Tahilla Gatherings: The Artful Table
On the Grace of Gathering
Intimate, seasonal, and unhurried
Thursday, June 11, 2026. Tahilla Farm, Peterborough, New Hampshire
grace note from the table | image credit: Kate Preftakes
There is a particular pleasure in arriving home with flowers in your arms, a market basket filled with delicious food, the table still to set, and the whole afternoon ahead.
That feeling, unhurried, quietly purposeful, full of anticipation, is exactly what The Artful Table is shaped around. It is a day rooted in the quiet pleasures of summer hospitality. Flowers cut from the garden, a table laid with care, food brought to the table on generous platters, and the particular satisfaction of welcoming people well.
It is the kind of day I have long wanted to offer here at Tahilla Farm.
Whether you love to entertain and want fresh inspiration, or find hosting more daunting than delightful, this day is for you. Practical wisdom will be woven throughout, not as a checklist, but as a way of seeing. Small ideas and gentle shifts that make the whole business of welcoming people feel less like a production and more like a pleasure. You don't need any experience. Just bring your appetite for a lovely day.
grace note from the meadow
Isabel Bannerman, the garden designer, said something recently that has stayed with me. Keep it simple, but make it wondrous. That has been my guiding thought for every detail of this day.
The day unfolds in collaboration with four women, each bringing their own sensibility to the gathering.
Beatrice Sannino opens the morning with a table styling demonstration, exploring the visual language of the al fresco table. How flowers, herbs, market produce, linens, and a few well-chosen pieces can come together into something that feels abundant and alive. With an eye toward what might be gathered from the local market, she will show how easily a summer table can come to life from what is already around you.
Amy Meyers then speaks to the grace of hosting, those small, unhurried gestures that make guests feel genuinely at ease from the moment they arrive. Her conversation is warm, practical, and full of ideas you will find yourself reaching for all summer long.
Carolyn Hough shapes the lunch itself, offering a way of cooking and serving that feels as generous and unforced as the day around it. Seasonal, beautiful, and entirely without fuss. Carolyn has a gift for making a meal feel like an event without making it feel like an effort, and that is exactly the spirit we are after.
And I will be there throughout, holding the day together at Tahilla Farm, in the spaces and garden I love, hoping to share something of what this place feels like in June, when the light is long, the garden is generous, and the whole farm seems to lean toward summer.
It doesn't have to be elaborate to be beautiful.
It doesn't have to be perfect to be memorable.
It just has to feel warm, and welcoming, and worth the afternoon.
The Artful Table is built on exactly that belief.
The day is also meant to send you home thinking about your own gatherings. How you might welcome family and friends around the table, whether for a well-planned lunch or something brought together in just a few hours. For those who find entertaining more stressful than joyful, The Artful Table is an invitation to ease into the season with a little more confidence, beauty, and grace.
grace note from a June morning
As the afternoon draws to a close, we move into the garden to cut flowers from Tahilla Farm and create a small arrangement to take home. It is a quiet, hands-on ending to a day spent in the company of beautiful things, and it is meant to leave you with something living to carry the feeling forward.
Every guest will also leave with Grace Notes, a small illustrated keepsake booklet of tips, recipes, and seasonal inspiration to return to all summer long. And one more surprise, handmade locally, waiting for you at the door.
There are just 10 places for this gathering, held with care and intention. If this day speaks to you, I would love to welcome you to Tahilla Farm.
Meet the people behind the day
Jeanne Henriques is a writer and the creator of Tahilla Gatherings, held at Tahilla Farm — a farmhouse with roots going back to 1790 on 35 acres of quiet New Hampshire landscape. Welcoming people to this place, and to each other, is at the heart of everything she does here.
Beatrice Sannino brings an instinctive eye for beauty and atmosphere to the table. Her approach to styling is rooted in ease rather than excess, using flowers, linens, market produce, and gathered details to create settings that feel abundant, welcoming, and alive. Find her on Instagram.
Amy Meyers brings a gracious and thoughtful perspective to the art of hosting, with an appreciation for etiquette not as formality for its own sake, but as a way of helping others feel comfortable and cared for. Find her on Instagram.
Carolyn Hough brings a generous and grounded approach to food, one that feels perfectly suited to the spirit of summer gathering. Her style of cooking is relaxed, abundant, and deeply inviting, with an emphasis on meals that feel beautiful without becoming complicated.
Your invitation awaits —
