High atop the hills of Mason New Hampshire is the perfect place for a gourmet relaxing lunch. Pickity Place is everything they advertise and more. I have memories of taking my Mom and Aunt and we would trek up to Mason NH for a delicious lunch. Mom’s not able to go anymore as she is no longer with us, I plan on carrying out the tradition and go as much as I can.
Gourmet Lunch
Pickity offers a delicious gourmet 5 course meal and enjoy strolling in the gardens and greenhouse. The crackers and dip, bread, salad, and soup are the same for the months menu. They offer two selections of main courses to choose from. One meat and one vegetarian. They have many selections of beverages to choose from. Raspberry Orange Tea (hot or cold), spiced tea, herbal tea, mocha coffee. Lavender lemonade and mulled cider is available seasonally. My favorite is the Raspberry Orange tea. You can purchase online or in the gift shop as well. They offer a different 5 course meal every month. They do not serve alcohol but you can bring your own if you would like.
Various Beverages
Pickity Place offers a variety of cold and hot beverages, all just as unique as the items on the luncheon menu. Raspberry Orange Tea was my favorite for years…delicious hot or cold, but was discontinued due to supply issues. I used to buy a huge bag of it to take home. Hopefully they will be able to obtain the ingredients once again and bring it back….
They also have Spiced Tea, Raspberry Peach Tea, Herbal Tea, Mocha Coffee, Lavender Lemonade and Mulled Cider.
Gardens 
The gardens are full of perennial flowers, herbs and vegetables in the Summer months. They also grow their own herbs in the greenhouse which are used in the many meals they prepare. And if you cook, you know it’s all about the herbs!
Gift Shop
There are two gift shops in the warmer months. In the colder months the main gift shop is open before and after the luncheons. They offer herbs to purchase and take home, drink mixes they use in the luncheons, and other gift items.
Hours and Reservations
They are open year round 7 days a week 10 am to 5 pm (April-Dec) and 10 am to 4 pm (Jan to March). They are closed New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday, July 4th, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. They offer three settings a day 11:30 am, 12:45 pm and 2:00 pm.
Reservations are strongly encouraged by calling (603) 878-1151.
Parking and Directions
Pickity Place is located right off NH Rt 31. Turn onto Adams Hill Rd and then left onto Nutting Hill Rd. Follow the signs to Pickity Place. You may wonder if you are going the right way traversing the 1043 feet up the cottage sits on. When they say “tucked in the woods” they are not kidding. The Russell State Forest surrounds the area that this is located in. The many times I’ve been there I still say the same thing, “am I going the right way”? Once you get there you will find very little parking close to the cottage. As you came in there is more parking with just a very short walk. Either way, I have never seen it as a problem.
Grandma’s House
This little cottage high in the hills of New Hampshire has been there since 1786. It was chosen by local resident Elizabeth Orton Jones as the model for her illustrations in Little Red Riding Hood (Little Golden Books, 1948). There is a room dedicated to Red Riding Hood inside the cottage.
Pickity Place is certainly worth the jaunt. I love going in the warmer months to stroll the gardens, but have been many times in the Winter as well.
The History of Pickity Place
Elizabeth Orton Jones, nicknamed “Twig,” fell in love with New Hampshire when she came here on a business trip in 1945 and ended up buying the cottage. She put down roots in Mason, and was a mainstay in town until her death at the age of 94 in 2005. In 1976 Judith and David Walter turned the cottage into Pickity Place. The original 18th-century Pickity barn was converted into a gift shop in 1981 and the family home transformed into Grandmother’s Room and the Teahouse for what the Walters described as an Earth-celebrating Pickity Restaurant.
Six months after the Picks moved to Nutting Hill Road, friend Bobbi Macozek of Maine offered to sell her herb gardens, copies of all her herbal recipes, craft ideas, and various jars and props. Bobbi’s gardens then were dug up in one trip and transplanted into raised bed boxes David built behind the carriage house (which would later become the Pickity gift shop).
The garden beds were planted and the original Pickity shop came alive in a single room. The shop “was a rustic old barn with a time-worn creaky floor.”
Ancient windows were royalized with bright yellow curtains. A woodstove radiated the only source of heat in winter. An antique wooden cash register worked the exchanges.
During the second year of Pickity Place, the Walters created a mail-order catalogue that became so popular that David Walter quit his job as purchasing manager. Seven years later, the size and scope of the catalogue became too large to handle with so small a staff, and it was discontinued.
Pickity Place was sold in 2000 and still is under the wing of Kim and Keith Grimes. Keith is a fantastic chef and even posts videos of cooking some dished from time to time.
Chef Keith Grimes
Chef Grimes studied at Johnson and Wales University. His style of cooking is like no other. Even though there are three seatings a day, Keith’s personal touch to every dish shows. No matter when you go, there is a menu put together like a symphony. Take this from an avid restaurant critic…. PICKITY PLACE IS LIKE NO OTHER RESTAURANT YOU HAVE BEEN! Every item in the 5-course luncheon is delicious! The dips, salad dressings are all home made and take advantage of fresh herbs.
There have been many times that I’ve said “I don’t think I like that, but oh well, I’ll try it”. And after eating there I had to take back those words. I have been there many, many times, and every time I can say was a delicious experience.
This place is so popular reservations can be backed up, so call well ahead of when you would like to go. (603) 878-1151.
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