If your headed to Amsterdam you need to add a stop at Clara Maria Cheese Farm & Clog Factory! She’s an American, he’s Dutch and they run a neat farm making cheese and wooden clogs! The cheese is delicious and the demonstrations are fun to watch. There are also some cows and chickens your kids can see as well.
The best thing about the experience is that it is free! Bring money though because your going to want to buy some of the amazing cheese! I highly recommend the Italian herb one, it’s amazing in quesadillas! They also have lots of souvenirs as well.
The times for the demos are posted on the door when you first enter. Then you walk right into the clog factory. We walked in as they were just finishing up and headed with the small group into the next room the cheese area. There is a great display of finished clogs for sale on the wall.
We watched a video explaining the cheese making process because his wife was finishing up lunch. Then she came out and explained more to us and shared some funny stories. After that we sampled the cheeses and headed in to shop.
I wonder if you live on a cheese farm if you ever get sick of cheese? They make gouda here which we love but not sure I would love eating it all the time 😉 But with that said it sure didn’t last long after we got it home, we gobbled it up right away!
The shop area is fairly large with lots of souvenirs and lots of cheese! We got our cheese which was €36 for three large cheese wheels and they were delicious! Prices for the souvenirs were reasonable as well. Great place to grab some gifts to send back to the family.
After that we walked out to see the cows, and one of their new calves, Milka, who is a gray/purplish color. They said they’ve never seen one that color before.
Some fairly new baby calves.
Bea petting Milka, the coloring doesn’t really show well in these photos.
After visiting with the cows we popped back in to catch the wooden shoe demo before we left. It was a bit loud but it wasn’t horrible.
It’s neat to see how the clogs are made the whole demo is about 20 mins long. The child who is picked to help gets to keep the rough clog version and I seen them burning the name on the clog for them in the shop as well.
Finished version of the rough cut clog.
Overall it was a great stop on our journey! We were here for just over an hour but you could easily stay longer if desired. Also it was way easier to see the demos here without the crowds, the crowds at Zaanse Shans to see the clog demo was crazy! Here there was a group of maybe 15 people and 4 of them were us. They are a neat family who loves what they do and love sharing it with others.
Know Before You Go
What: Clara Maria Cheese Farm & Clog Factory in Amstelveen, Netherlands.
How To Get There: It’s about 3 hours 35 mins from Spangdahlem, and 4 hours 40 mins from Ramstein. It’s 32 mins from Amsterdam. GPS Address: Bovenkerkerweg 106-A
1188 XH Amstelveen
Parking: Is free and is behind the house.
Cost: Free for the demonstrations and to walk around, bring money for the cheese because your going to want to buy some! They also have some neat souvenirs as well.
Traveling with little kids: The wooden shoe demo is fun for kids, he chooses one child to help him make the demo shoe. You can walk in the cow barn and see and pet the cows as well. There are also some chickens that are roaming around. Not enough room to easily take a stroller in the building.
How long: Plan on at least an hour for to see both the demos and shop, longer if you hang out longer with the animals.
I’m torn between the cow clogs and the super beautiful windmill clogs. And that cow is an unusual color.