The wall is down, the sawdust is swept, and the hearth that was only half-laid when the Green Kettle opened recently is finished and warm. Mother Bettony’s supper room, The Long Table, is set to open in Dellriven next week, behind the apothecary on the little high street below the manticore trail. It will serve the plain restorative cooking of the Groves, the sort of food that puts a person back together after a hard season, at a price she still insists will be “fair or nothing,” and there will be, as she promised, a few seats kept every night for anyone who should not be eating alone. In a spring that has asked so many of us to sit quietly behind our own doors, Mother Bettony is setting one long table and inviting the whole street to it. Go hungry, and go honest, and she will tell you what is in every dish before you lift your spoon.

Rue Ashdown is the Chronicle’s wellness correspondent for the Whispering Groves pages. Tips, openings, and a good remedy for a cough may be sent to her by owl.