Unearth The Voyage
A historic cottage hidden in the New Hampshire hills offers one of the most unusual dining experiences in New England. Built in 1786 and linked to the illustrations of a beloved children’s book, the red colonial home welcomes guests for reservation-only herbal lunches made with ingredients gathered fresh from the surrounding gardens.
What makes the experience unforgettable is how personal and quiet it feels. The five-course menu changes monthly, herbal lemonades rotate with the seasons, and the setting feels more like visiting someone’s private countryside home than dining at a restaurant.
With no crowds, no walk-ins, and a school bell calling guests to lunch, the entire visit feels intentionally removed from modern distractions.
A Cottage at the End of Nutting Hill Road
The address alone tells you this will not be a typical restaurant outing. Pickity Place sits at 248 Nutting Hill Rd, Mason, NH 03048, tucked into the wooded hills of southern New Hampshire at the end of a narrow, unpaved road that GPS handles surprisingly well.
Mason itself is one of those small New Hampshire towns that feels genuinely untouched by modern rush. The population hovers around 1,500, the roads are quiet, and the landscape shifts between open meadow and dense forest as you drive through.
The red cottage at the end of that road has been standing since 1786, and it looks every bit its age in the best possible way. The exterior is weathered wood painted a deep barn red, framed by garden beds that seem to grow in every direction.
From the moment you pull into the small gravel lot, the outside world feels far away. That sense of arrival, of having found something tucked away and rare, sets the tone for everything that follows inside.
The Little Red Riding Hood Connection That Started It All
Back in 1948, an illustrator named Elizabeth Orton Jones was working on a new edition of Little Red Riding Hood for the Little Golden Book series. She needed a model for Grandmother’s house, and the red cottage in Mason fit her vision perfectly.
Her illustrations featured the cottage’s distinctive silhouette, and when that edition was published, the building quietly became part of American childhood without most readers ever knowing where it stood.
Today, Pickity Place leans into that legacy with warmth rather than gimmick. A dedicated display inside the cottage recreates Grandmother’s Bedroom, complete with a costumed wolf figure in the bed and, on lucky days, one of the resident cats curled up nearby as if auditioning for the role.
The connection gives the whole experience an extra layer of charm that feels earned rather than manufactured. You are not just having lunch in an old cottage.
You are having lunch inside a page from a story you probably heard as a child.
What the Five-Course Herbal Lunch Actually Looks Like
The lunch format at Pickity Place is prix-fixe, meaning everyone at the table receives the same progression of courses, and that shared rhythm is part of what makes the experience feel special.
Things begin with crackers and a house-made herbal dip, followed by fresh bread rolls. Then comes the soup, which consistently draws the most praise of any course.
A salad follows before the main event arrives.
For the entree, guests choose between a meat option and a vegetarian option at the time of reservation. Past menus have featured chicken cordon bleu, chicken francaise, orange sesame chicken, and garden vegetable dishes, all prepared with herbs grown on the property.
Dessert closes the meal, and past options have included chocolate strawberry cheesecake and vanilla crisp cookies that carry a genuinely homemade quality.
The entire meal, including beverages, is included in the price, which hovers just above thirty dollars per person. That all-inclusive value is one of the most talked-about aspects of the whole outing.
Herbs, Edible Flowers, and a Garden That Earns Its Keep
The gardens at Pickity Place are not decorative afterthoughts. They are working culinary gardens, and the herbs and edible flowers harvested from them each morning go directly into the day’s menu.
Walking the grounds before or after lunch is its own reward. The beds are organized with obvious care, and the variety of plants on display reflects years of intentional cultivation.
Lavender, rosemary, thyme, and dozens of lesser-known culinary herbs grow in dense, fragrant rows.
In summer, the gardens burst with color from the edible flowers that appear throughout the courses, sometimes as garnish, sometimes as an actual ingredient. The visual presentation of the food reflects exactly what is growing just outside the windows.
The aromas hit you before you even bend down to look closely. There is something genuinely grounding about eating food that was growing in the garden an hour before it reached your plate.
Seasonal changes mean the garden looks and smells entirely different depending on when you visit, which is one reason regulars come back month after month without hesitation.
The Drinks That Steal the Conversation
Nobody walks into Pickity Place expecting the beverages to be a highlight, and then the lavender lemonade arrives. That first sip tends to stop conversations mid-sentence.
The drink menu rotates seasonally and typically includes spiced tea, raspberry peach tea, a selection of herbal teas, and mocha coffee. Seasonal specialties like lavender lemonade in warmer months and mulled cider in autumn make each visit feel calibrated to the time of year.
All beverages are included in the fixed lunch price, and refills are offered freely. In a dining landscape where a specialty lemonade can run seven dollars on its own, that generosity lands with real impact.
The mocha coffee paired with dessert is a combination worth planning around. Guests who request it during their reservation tend to be the ones smiling most contentedly at the end of the meal.
The drink selection does not overwhelm, but every option feels considered. Each glass arrives looking almost too pretty to touch, which is a problem you will happily solve within seconds.
How Reservations Work and Why They Matter
Pickity Place operates on a reservation-only model, and understanding how it works before you plan your trip will save you a lot of frustration. Three lunch seatings run each day at 11:30 am, 12:45 pm, and 2:00 pm, and each seating fills the entire restaurant at once.
That communal timing creates a shared energy in the room. Everyone arrives together, courses come out together, and the next group does not enter until the current seating has finished and departed.
Reservations can be made by phone at 603-878-1151, and during peak seasons like fall foliage, calling at least a month ahead for weekend seats is strongly advised. Last-minute openings do occasionally appear due to cancellations, but counting on one is a gamble.
At the time of booking, guests select their entree choice and note any special requirements. Children twelve and under can order from a dedicated option called the Grandmother’s Basket or receive a smaller portion of the adult menu.
The restaurant is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm, closing only for major holidays throughout the year.
The Monthly Menu Rotation That Keeps Regulars Coming Back
One of the most clever things about Pickity Place is that the menu changes completely every single month. That single decision has turned casual visitors into devoted regulars who plan their calendars around it.
January brings warming, hearty dishes built around dried herbs and root vegetables. June leans into fresh greens, bright edible flowers, and lighter preparations.
October pulls in autumn spices and seasonal produce in ways that feel genuinely festive rather than forced.
The kitchen treats each monthly menu as its own creative project, and the results show in the food. Dishes that have appeared in past rotations include chicken cordon bleu, chicken francaise, Chinese egg drop soup, and chocolate strawberry cheesecake, each one reflecting the herbs and ingredients available at that time of year.
Regulars have been known to visit every single month for years without repeating a meal. Some guests start planning their next visit before the current one is even finished, which is probably the most honest review any restaurant could ever receive.
The Grandmother’s Bedroom and the Wolf in the Bed
Tucked within the property’s garden area is a small outbuilding that has been transformed into the Grandmother’s Bedroom from Little Red Riding Hood. It is one of those unexpected details that makes an already unusual place feel genuinely one of a kind.
Inside, a figure dressed as the wolf occupies the bed, surrounded by dried flowers and herbs hanging from the ceiling. The scent in that small space is remarkable, a layered combination of lavender, rosemary, and other dried botanicals that turns the whole tableau into a sensory experience.
On some visits, one of the resident cats, most famously a cat named Poppy, has been spotted lounging in or near the display. A cat choosing to inhabit a fairy tale set piece feels entirely appropriate for a place like this.
The display is not elaborate by museum standards, but it does not need to be. The charm comes from its sincerity.
Pickity Place leans into its storybook identity without winking at it, and that commitment makes all the difference.
The Gift Shops Hidden at the End of the Garden Path
Most restaurant gift shops feel like an afterthought, a rack of branded mugs near the exit. The gift shops at Pickity Place operate on an entirely different level, and guests consistently mention them as a highlight equal to the meal itself.
There are two separate shop spaces on the property, and both stock items that feel genuinely worth taking home. Loose leaf tea blends, sea salts, herbal spice mixes, drink mixes, and botanically inspired products fill the shelves in a way that rewards slow browsing.
The selection skews toward items you cannot find in a standard grocery store or tourist shop. Regulars stock up on favorites during each visit, and first-timers often leave wishing they had brought a larger bag.
The staff in the gift shops carry the same warmth as the dining room team, which makes the browsing feel relaxed rather than pressured. There is no hard sell, just genuinely interesting products and people who clearly know them well.
Budget a full afternoon for the visit, because the shops alone justify lingering well past dessert.
The Staff, the Cat, and the School Bell
There is a school bell at Pickity Place, and when it rings, lunch is ready. That small, old-fashioned detail sets the tone for an experience that prizes warmth and ritual over efficiency and speed.
The wait staff inside the cottage dining room are consistently described as kind, attentive, and genuinely invested in the guest experience. Servers have been known to offer tastes of different beverages so guests can find their favorite before committing to a full glass.
Then there is Poppy the cat, who has become something of an unofficial mascot. She moves through the property with complete confidence, pausing for pets from guests who recognize her celebrity status.
Spotting Poppy during your visit feels like a small bonus reward.
The front desk experience has drawn occasional mixed feedback, particularly during busy fall weekends when the volume of guests and the tight reservation schedule create pressure. Arriving on time and calling ahead if you anticipate delays goes a long way toward starting things on the right foot.
The overall staff culture feels genuinely happy, and that energy is contagious in the best way.
What to Expect From the Setting and the Season
Pickity Place looks different in every season, and that variety is a genuine reason to visit more than once. Summer brings the gardens to full, fragrant life, with herbs and flowers in every direction and warm afternoon light filtering through the trees.
Autumn transforms the surrounding hillside into something close to spectacular. The fall foliage in Mason frames the red cottage in shades of orange, gold, and deep red, and the October menu leans into the season with spiced flavors that match the view outside the windows.
Winter visits carry a cozier, quieter character. The dining room feels intimate against the cold outside, and the hot beverage options take on extra appeal.
Spring brings the first green shoots pushing up through the garden beds, and the menu reflects that sense of renewal.
A few practical notes: the property has no air conditioning in the lobby or gift shop, so summer visits call for light clothing. The parking lot is small and can get muddy after rain, and cell reception near the property is limited, which many guests find unexpectedly refreshing.
