Pickity Place, New Hampshire Is the Real-Life Cottage Behind Little Red Riding Hood

The town of Mason sits along New Hampshire's border with Massachusetts, quiet enough that most people driving through wouldn't think twice about it. But at the end of a winding dirt road in Mason is Pickity Place, a restaurant that feels less like a meal out and more like walking into a storybook.

That's not just a figure of speech. The cottage itself, built in 1786, inspired illustrator Elizabeth Orton Jones to create artwork for the 1948 Little Golden Book edition of Little Red Riding Hood. Once you see the place in person, the resemblance makes sense.

A Working Herb Farm First, a Restaurant Second

Pickity Place isn't just decorated to look charming; it functions as a working herb farm. The property is planted with themed gardens (butterfly, silver, oregano, bird, healing, and moonlight among them), and what grows there ends up on the plate. Herbs, edible flowers, and produce grown on-site work their way into the kitchen's recipes, which is part of why the food tastes distinct from a typical New England lunch spot. It belongs on the same shortlist as other stunning waterfront properties, such as the gorgeous Waterfall Café in Meredith.

The greenhouse is open to browse too, stocked with succulents, fairy plants, and the same hard-to-find herbs the kitchen uses.

What's on the Menu

The dining room serves one set menu a month, five courses: an appetizer, soup, salad, a choice of entree, and dessert. It changes with the seasons and whatever the garden is producing. Kids get their own version of the experience: a small basket called Grandmother's Basket, playing on the Little Red Riding Hood theme, packed with a sandwich, fruit, a cookie, and a drink.

Reservations matter here more than at most restaurants, since there are only three seatings a day (traditionally around 11:30 a.m., 12:45 p.m., and 2 p.m., though it's worth confirming current times directly). Book ahead, especially during fall foliage season when day-trippers from Boston and beyond tend to fill up the calendar. If you're building a dining itinerary, it easily earns a spot alongside the ultimate bucket list restaurants in New Hampshire.

Plan Your Visit

Pickity Place is open seven days a week for lunch only. The same menu items are also available to take home if you'd rather not dine in. Beyond the dining room, the property includes a gift shop and greenhouse worth setting aside extra time for; this isn't a quick in-and-out lunch stop.

Confirm current hours, seating times, and the month's menu directly on Pickity Place's website before making the drive, since both shift seasonally.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why is Pickity Place connected to Little Red Riding Hood? The cottage, built in 1786, inspired illustrator Elizabeth Orton Jones's artwork for the 1948 Little Golden Book edition of Little Red Riding Hood. The restaurant has leaned into the connection ever since, down to a kids' menu item called Grandmother's Basket.
• Does Pickity Place serve dinner? No. The dining room is lunch-only, with three seatings served daily.
• Where does Pickity Place get its ingredients? Many of them come from its own property. Pickity Place maintains several themed herb and flower gardens on-site, and the kitchen uses what's grown there in its monthly rotating menu.

Just looking at this property, it is easy to see how it could inspire that timeless classic tale. The whole area is perfectly manicured, and the historic nature of the cottage mixes beautifully with the surrounding plant life, making it feel as if you have stumbled into an enchanted grove far off in the woods. In fact, it fits right in if you are planning a full fairytale road trip in New Hampshire.

Reservations are strongly recommended as there are only three private seatings each day. For more information, along with monthly menus, please visit the Pickity Place website and be sure to follow them on their official Pickity Place Facebook page.

For more ideas on where to eat around the state, also check out these small town restaurants in New Hampshire.