Fresh herbs culled from Denise Atwood's gardens are very much a staple in The Red Pheasant's kitchen, and edible flowers from her gardens often garnish entrees and desserts. Denise, who runs the dining room and most nights can be found greeting patrons at the door, has a love of, and talent for horticulture, as evidenced by the eye-catching gardens surrounding the Cape house that fronts the street and the barn restaurant behind it.

People have been known to stop and snap photographs of these striking gardens, and artists have painted them. Behind a white picket fence the perennial gardens bloom from May to November, with spring flowering bulbs and violets giving way to a beautiful display of Shasta daisies and purple foxglove in June and black-eyed Susans, pastels yarrow, purple allium and coneflowers. By August, lovely gladioli and cosmos blossom before a fall display of asters and mums. The lush colors are echoed in the dining room, where cut flowers grace every table.

Outside the Garden Room, a shade garden is lit for viewing with azalea, Lenten rose, coral belles, asters and rhododendrons surrounding a Scargo Pottery castle. Bird feeders and a bird bath are well visited unless the family cat is nearby! It's all part of the charm that make The Red Pheasant a unique dining experience.

The Red Pheasant is open nightly year-round. For more information and to make reservations, please call us at 1-800-480-2133 or 1-508-385-2133.