This sweet restaurant in the Hereford zone is a family affair for the Heneghans. You’re likely to find mom and dad overseeing the kitchen and seating diners and their four daughters waiting on tables. They take pride in serving dishes using herbs and vegetables from their garden or eggs, meats, and ice cream from area farms.

The menu changes seasonally, but there’s usually one constant—carrot cake, a freshly made version of Dan and Nell Heneghan’s wedding cake. Other regular items include the portachoke salad with diced portobellos, artichoke hearts, green beans, and mixed greens tossed with a tarragon Dijon vinaigrette, and the Proud American, a classic grilled cheese sandwich.

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Parkton's many charms include gentle hills, the Gunpowder River, and the NCR trail. On the other hand, it's not an easy reach for distant diners with only an hour to spare. With light traffic, you might be able to pull off a round trip, with 30 or so minutes to spare for actual lunch. What kind of motivation would you need to risk going overtime? Soup 'R Natural may have your answer.

12:29 The restaurant's name encompasses three passions. First, the chef/owner, Nell Heneghan, considers herself foremost a soupmaker; second, she and her husband, Dan, strive to use sustainable, natural, local ingredients; third, it proclaims a faith evident in easily overlooked Bible verses affixed to the lower edges of the dining room tables. Five or six late-stage teenagers hover around Natural's counter. They are dressed in the T-shirt uniform of their demographic. They're all fresh-faced and healthy-looking, and you may get the feeling they're treating the counter like the kids' table at a big family gathering.

12:37 The dining room is an open space of broad plank floors, exposed ceiling beams and sturdy wooden tables. A whisper of bluegrass music warms the atmosphere. Our server took our order and watched over our table with an unaffected attentiveness that contributed to Natural's relaxed-but-shy vibe.

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You have to love a restaurant like SoupR Natural that features a freshly made version of the owners wedding-cake recipe for dessert. The moist one-layer carrot cake with rich cream-cheese frosting looks homemade, but thats the point at this cute farmhouse-like building, where fresh and natural ingredients are the focus of the seasonal menu.

For breakfast, the Hereford Zone comforts with two eggs (fried or scrambled), one side (like home fries with fresh herbs), and bread (try the whole-wheat pita). For dinner, go for the barbecue chicken drums and thighs or nutty Cajun catfish supper. Or stop by at midday, where ladies who lunch, construction workers, and families quickly fill the place to order sumptuous sandwiches, delicious soups, and crisp salads.

We caught an end-of-the-season gazpacho (with a hint of mint) and paired it (soup and salad combo, $9) with the portachoke saladdiced portobellos, artichoke hearts, tiny cut green beans, and mixed greens superbly dressed with a tangy, mustardy nasturtium vinaigrette. Iced tea in a Mason jar is nice touch, too. Clearly, the Heneghan family, who runs the place, knows what theyre doing.