Woman returns to 'America's conservative Amish town' that she escaped aged 19 - as she recalls how she only had ONE BATH a week, no toilet paper and lived by candlelight

An eye-opening new documentary sees a woman, who fled one of America's most conservative Amish townships, return to her childhood home for a confronting trip down memory lane.

Lizzie Ens, 38, who features in a film by YouTube creator and close friend Drew Binksy, grew up in Holmes County, Ohio, as part of the Swartzentruber Amish community.

This group is known for maintaining the strictest no-frills lifestyle out of all the different Amish sects, with some of their rules detailed in the film.

Lizzie - who now works as a wellness coach - says when she grew up as one of 18 children, there was no electricity, no plumbing, she was limited to one bath a week, she had to use cut up newspaper in lieu of toilet paper, her family had a horse and cart instead of a car, and she was told she could never marry outside the group.

She also grew up trilingual with Pennsylvanian Dutch as her first language, English as her second, and German as her third to read the Bible.

Lizzie Ens, 38, who features in a film by YouTube creator and close friend Drew Binksy, grew up in Holmes County, Ohio, as part of the Swartzentruber Amish community

Lizzie returns to her childhood home where her mom still lives 

Drew remarks that it is strange seeing no plug sockets around the place and it feels like being in the 1930s

Other rooms they visit in the house include the bathroom where they find a plastic tub used for weekly baths

In one poignant scene, she enters her childhood bedroom and she says it still smells the same as it did decades ago. 

Asked how it feels to be there, Lizzie - who also has an estranged twin - replies: 'I honestly I have no words. It's just all the things are flooding back.

'I chose to leave, [my siblings] didn't. I now understand, I know two sides; the modern world and the non-modern world. They know one side.

'They have right to their feelings and their thoughts and how they feel about it and so do I, but we're friends.'

Recalling how she gradually started yearning to leave her community, Lizzie says, citing one particular incident: 'I had many, many dreams in this room about leaving and I remember, literally, I was standing at this window putting my dress and outfit on for church and I had gotten in trouble for putting a pin on the wrong way.

'I'm staring out the window and I I said to myself, "If I'm going to go to hell for putting a pin on wrong in my dress, I'm going to go to hell driving a car.'"

After building up the courage to leave, Lizzie said she left a note for her family stating that 'this has nothing to do with anybody else here... this is me, but I have to go.'

Another thing that spurred Lizzie's desire to escape was a romance that started when she was 19.

At her sister's wedding, she met a young Amish man from New York state and after becoming pen pals, they hatched a plan to run away together.

Detailing the night she fled her home, with her love interest waiting in a car outside, she said: 'So I climb out onto the roof [and] my boyfriend is up on the hill flashing his flashlight. 

'I eventually climb all the way out to the edge and I'm like crouched down. So finally I took a deep breath and I jumped. [When I got in the car] we all screamed with happiness.'

The duo peek inside the 'ice house' where giant chunks of ice are kept as they do not have an electric freezer

Lizzie demonstrates how one of the kerosene lights works 

After building up the courage to leave, Lizzie said she left a note for her family stating that 'this has nothing to do with anybody else here... this is me but I have to go'

Continuing on the subject of venturing into the modern world, Lizzie said: 'I 1,000% knew it was where I was supposed to go but I had no idea what my life was going to look like or what it was going to lead to because I knew so little of the world.

'I was meant to be here for the time that I was but I was never meant to be here for the rest of my life.

'I also believe that some people in the community have a bigger calling and maybe they were meant to leave but it's the strength of the community and the culture and the relationships of the family and the church that keeps them here. [That's reason] number one. Number two is the fear of the church.'

Along with Lizzie's former bedroom, other rooms they visit in the house include the cellar, where they find shelves of jarred meats and fruits, the bathroom where they find a plastic tub used for weekly baths, and the main living room where Lizzie's mom spends most of her time.

Drew remarks how strange it is seeing no plug sockets around the place and it feels like 'being in the 1930s.' 

Moving outside, they visit the outhouse or toilet, which Lizzie says is fancier than she remembers it with toilet paper now installed, an ice house where they keep blocks of ice and a barn where they process corn for animal feed.  

As the duo tour the farm, both remark on how idyllic the environment is. 

Lizzie applauds the Amish for mastering the art of self sufficiency and says the 'modern world' could learn a lot from their way of life. 

She muses as she points to some Amish men planting crops: 'Look how sustainable this is. 

'Like they're not relying on any electricity, they're not relying on anything necessarily modern. If the electricity goes out, they're not doomed... they can be their own and that's what modern society has lost.'

'I was meant to be here for the time that I was but I was never meant to be here for the rest of my life,' Lizzie says, reflecting on her childhood

Drew explains that when Lizzie left the community, the church 'shunned her and cut her off entirely.' Her family also gave her the cold shoulder

In his film, Drew also hails the trip as one of the 'most interesting experiences' he's 'ever had in America'

Drew explains that when Lizzie left the community, the church 'shunned her and cut her off entirely.'

Her family also gave her the cold shoulder and she hasn't talked to some of her siblings 'in 10 years.' 

However, she has kept in touch with her mom but they don't see each regularly, while her dad passed away when she was 13 after a drunk driver struck his buggy.

Lizzie's trip home with Drew was the first time she had been back in two years.

On Instagram, she described the visit as the 'most grounding thing for my heart and soul.'

She explained to her 150,000-plus followers: 'In my early teens I always knew in my heart I wasn't supposed to be here for the rest of my life. The stir in my soul was massive.

'After I ran away it took me a few years to not have spite towards the community (Not my family but the community).

'I tried to remove myself from them as far as I could for a lot of reasons. But after years of healing, I now have the utmost appreciation and respect for all the things my culture taught me.

'As with any culture or closed off community, there's really good things and bad things as well. I choose to focus on the good more than the bad as it's made me who I am today and has allowed me to become and do what I do in this life. And that, I am forever grateful for.'

In his film, Drew also hails the trip as one of the 'most interesting experiences' he's 'ever had in America.'

He concludes: 'I just think it's so cool that the USA is so big and there's so many different countries and cultures and religions and beliefs, and the Amish is just one of them.

'They're friendly people, they're harmless people and that's kind of why I wanted to come learn about this culture because I want to share with you the real story of Amish. 

'Especially hearing it from Lizzie's point of view, as someone who grew up there and has left. It's been very, very special.'