Field Trip - Pickity Place and Covered Bridges!

Yesterday, Saturday, we went on our weekly field trip.  What we try to do once a week if possible is go somewhere in New England - there is just so much to see and do in this whole awesome region -  that I'm afraid I'll die before we get to it all!  I have felt this way since I moved here 17 years ago.  I remember one trip right after we moved here, my kids and I went to Rhode Island for a few days and although it is a tiny state, I was rushing us from one area to another to pack the whole state in and my kids begged me to let them just hang out in one area all day exclaiming "Mom, we live here!  We don't have to see it all in one day!"  True, but I used to panic in the early years that my dream come true would end and I'd have to leave this region I adore.  Believe it or not, I still have nightmares that I am back in Nevada and I can't get home here - no offense.  I'm not so panicky anymore but I do still feel that when the weather cooperates in any season, especially summer, we should go somewhere new (or even again) once a week unless we are traveling in another place entirely (like last week in Park City).  And Dan loves to take these field trips too - yay!

I have been to Pickity Place before, years ago, with my daughter Gabe and my friends Sandy and Ron  and BFF Julie.  Here's the blurb about the place they have on their website.
"Since 1786 our quaint little Red Cottage has graced the hills of southern New Hampshire, seemingly untouched by time.  The enchanting cottage was chosen by Elizabeth Orton Jones as the model for her illustrations in Little Red Riding Hood (Little Golden Books 1948).  Today it is a mecca for gardeners, foodies and anyone looking for inspiration and relaxation".  The address is 248 Nutting Hill Rd, Mason NH.

What you really want to do at Pickity Place most of all is eat lunch.  The most amazing lunch!  There are three lunch seatings per day: 11 am, 12:45 pm and 2 pm.  And you must make a reservation.  Every month the menu changes but it remains the same all month.  Here is July's.

The trip to get there is fun too and lovely especially if you take the lesser roads.  We took a kind of quick way to get there; so quick we had time to visit little villages in southern NH like Amherst, Hollis, Brookline and Mason itself before we arrived at 2 pm.  And we took a very picturesque and longer way home which I will describe shortly.  We took 101 west from the seacoast down to Amherst and then through the little towns I mentioned and the minor road from Brookline to Mason that appears gray on a road map seemed the lengthiest part of the trip because you wind around and go up and down until you get to the Red Cottage deep in the woods.  And you park in the woods.  You can get there with less winding if you come in from Greenville - much easier but then you won't pass the Uncle Sam's (from the Army poster) boyhood home or the Parker's Maple Barn, another place we need to visit next late winter when they are sugaring and we can have a huge stack of pancakes.  They serve year round but we want to return when it's prime maple sugar season.

Pickity Place is surrounded by herb gardens and a greenhouse and woods and all of their courses, from the drink to dessert, are made with their fresh herbs.  Here's what it all looked like:

 Above three pics are from Hollis NH.

 That tree you see in front of the cottage must be as old as the house - it is so huge and tall!

 The wolf in grandma's bed after she was eaten.

 A perspective on the size of the tree compared to the little humans in the front yard.

 This cat is not dead - he/she just didn't move a muscle as we stepped around him/her sniffing herbs.

 The fairy well full of coins

 There are three small dining rooms totaling 19 tables and they all filled up.

 We started with a Thai curry dip with fresh herbs to eat with our crackers

 Followed by a delicious cucumber, jalapeno, mint tomato gazpacho with fresh lovage.

 The lavender, hibiscus flower infused lemonade is to die for.  Oh, the lavender!!  We bought two little packages of fresh lavender and hibiscus with the recipe to make at home.

 The lemon garlic herb vinaigrette on this salad with black rice was so scrumptious and light!!  We also bought a bottle of it - it is that incredible.  They sell all the infusions/ mixes they make during the month they are featuring them.

 Beef Roulade Florentine with an eggplant and tomato fresh mozzarella side with fresh herbs and edible flowers.  Also fantastic!  We were served homemade bread with a roasted red pepper and herbal butter too.

 Dessert was amazing!!  Strawberry shortcake that had a blueberry custard on top served with strawberries, herbal whipped cream covered with flower petals, a stevia plant leaf garnish and a slice of frozen ganache dipped banana.  It was so incredibly good that I ate it super slow and scraped my plate.  Everyone eats the same fixed price menu - 5 courses; you do have a choice between a vegetarian or meat main course.

 Another view of the dessert.

 I would have licked this if we weren't in public.

The green house.  I bought a pot of 10 little foxglove plants for 4 bucks - 40 cents a plant!

After the meal, which totally satisfies but doesn't stuff you, we set off further west to search for 5 covered bridges near Swanzey and Winchester south of Keene.  It was so fun trying to figure out directions on all these tiny back roads from internet instructions from a covered bridge map on southwestnh.com.  And you go through lots more little villages as you search.  Here are pics of the ones we found.  We just love covered bridges.   All were originally built in the 17 and 1800s and restored through the years as necessary.

 Carlton Bridge

 Slate Bridge

 Thompson Bridge

 Coombs Bridge

 Achuelot Bridge

Okay, every river picture looks the same I know!  We both walked and drove through each one.

This covered bridge search took several hours so by time we finished it was supper time and we decided we had to visit the famous Kimball Farms Ice Cream in Jaffrey NH.  The place was so busy and the parking lot, though huge, enough to hold about 80 cars, was totally packed and we had a tough time finding a place to park.  Fortunately, the busiest side with the long lines was the seafood and burger side.  We were there for the ice cream.  They make their own ice cream and it is really really really good!  In case you don't know, New Englanders eat more ice cream per capita than the rest of the USA and the region is covered with mom and pop ice cream operations.  We have one just down the road from us, a family fave, Lagos.

 Lots of good peanut butter swirled through that rich chocolate ambrosia of the gods.

People just kept pouring out of cars - people watching while you eat ice cream is half the fun.

We took route 119 home through southwestern NH into Northern Mass and it is a gorgeous route with delightful towns one after another.  Once we got to Lowell we got on 495 and headed home on the freeway.  A wonderful field trip!!!