We visited Wainsford Riverside Cottages in July this year with our three Pointers. Two very large crates had already been put up in the cottage for us. We were greeted with a bottle of wine, a packet of biscuits, and a small bag of gravy bones for the dogs. Also three discs for the dog collars with the details of the cottages on, a very thoughtful extra. There were dog towels and throws available, and also a dog bath if needed. You can also get them to order dog food for you so you don't need to carry it with you. Each cottage has a small fenced in garden, and there is also a fully fenced two and a half acre field for the dogs to have a really good run. There is a fenced wooded area too which we didn't use. There are other walks within the grounds but the dogs have to be on lead on them. The cottages are centrally situated in that they are equidistant from the north and south coasts. We had an amazing week there. So many places to visit and the dogs enjoyed their visit to Par Beach. I can't speak highly enough of Wainsford Riverside Cottages. Everything to do with the dogs had been thought of. There was also a dog friendly pub within walking distance through the woods. They do have a website where you can find out all about them.
In a county where dogs are better catered for than their owners, Keymer Cottage on the North Norfolk coast is a haven for both. The dogs get their own room with sofa and a lookout window to the sea along with a fantastic garden, stocked with multiple fruit trees. The humans have a choice of 3 bedrooms, a well equipped living area, that wonderful fully enclosed garden (if the dogs will share it with you) with barbecue and furniture to take advantage of the clean unpolluted air day and night - the stars on a clear night are mesmerising! There are multiple walks both coastal and inland directly from the front door, which sees you directly onto the coast road, salt marshes and then the beach/sea. If you want to go further afield there are so many choices along this stretch of coast. However, you could quite happily spend days at a time not leaving this lovely cottage - the views of the church, sea and many many birds who make the marshes their home are a joy in themselves. Within a quick walk are a local store/newsagent, Cookies Crab Shack and a fantastic local pub the Dun Cow serving delicious meals from mostly local produce (including the beef, which grazes on the salt marsh opposite). We have stayed at Keymer Cottage 6 times in the last couple of years and we wouldn't want to stay anywhere else but here - and neither would Morph, Izzie and Phoebe our four legged holiday companions each time! If you are looking for a dog friendly base from which to explore this wonderful part of the world from, Keymer Cottage would be hard to beat.
Mark and I stayed at The Hayloft between 15 - 19 October with our rescue JRT Patch, for Patch to receive some behavioural training.
The Hayloft is absolutely amazing. The accommodation is spacious, comfortable, with all the mod cons including a dishwasher and a washing machine if needed 😊 The accommodation also has amazingly stunning views and a wonderful enclosed garden that Patch enjoyed having the freedom to run around in. The garden also has a light that comes on at night which is really helpful for the after dark doggie toilet breaks 😊 Their is also a table and chairs should you wish to chill in the garden. Charlene is such a fantastic host. Charlene helped us greatly with Patch and his issues. During our stay following a lengthy and very informative get together where Mark & I explained all the issues Patch has with daily life, Charlene offered us some tips before we started our first intensive behavioural training session. It turned out that is wasn't just Patch that needed training but Mark & I also needed to change our ways 😊 Ever keen to return to the beautiful Northumberland coast after our first trip in June, we found a rental house in Spittal, chosen mainly due to its close proximity to the many local beaches. Spittal runs into Berwick upon Tweed – a town we had only previously viewed from the warmth of a train on the East Coast mainline – and on a fine sunny day we decided to explore the town a little more to test out how dog-friendly it is.
Parking is easy and often free, and it wasn’t long before we were trotting down the high street towards Berwick Barracks (our English Heritage membership giving us free access). It has several fascinating and well-put together exhibitions, designed to educate in a gentle fashion with pictures, artefacts, history boards and re-creations of life of a soldier before, during and after wars. As with many English Heritage sites, the dog was welcome in all the exhibition halls – and only baulked at the loud bangs coming from one room with a recreation of life in the trenches. Our 8 year old dog Teapot is treated as one of the family. She comes on all our holidays. Every year we go to the Isle of Wight for 2 weeks during the Summer and stay at Thorness Bay. It is a lovely site with its own dog friendly beach and it is only a 10 minute walk from the camping area. We find lots of pubs on the island are dog friendly as are lots of shops-in fact lots of the shops have treats behind the counters for dogs. This year there was a dog show in Ventnor , we found out about it while in a charity shop and we entered her into 4 categories,senior dog, waggiest tail, beautiful bitch(where she came 3rd) and beautiful eyes(she came 1st!). She was up against tough competition and it was a fabulous afternoon in a lovely part of the island.We were so proud of her and took her to a pet shop the next day for her to spend the vouchers she won. Every day on holiday we took her to the beach for a swim. We also loved visiting the charity shops in Cowes as they all love dogs. Teapot loves her holidays and we recommend the island to everyone. The campsite at Thorness Bay is dog friendly and there are lots of campers there with dogs. She is not allowed in the complex but there is a patio area attached to the dining area and we eat there with her.
I stayed at the Arrochar Hotel for 4 days with my Service dog Paddy, a Saluki of noble mein lol. We had a wonderful time and both were made extremely welcome. The views were stunning and places to walk were numerable even for someone who cannot climb!
The staff in the hotel were most pleasant and helped me with my wifi set-up (I'm not too great at technology outside my home) and my luggage. The meals were lovely and could be taken in the lovely restaurant or in the lounge, both overlooking the stunning mountains. Paddy had a great swim in the loch every day and inspected almost every clump of seaweed. We will definitely be back to stay because our visit was so lovely and of course Paddy will have to inspect the beach again! It was my first gotcha-versary - the anniversary of the day I was 'got' from the rescue centre - and so my humans decided to take me on an October Northumberland adventure to celebrate.
We started on the coast near Alnwick. It was a crisp day with blue skies, despite the fact that inland and further South it was rather damp and grey. Often we've visited the beach at Alnmouth, but due to my previous picnic-thieving success, we went instead to the quieter, very beautiful, beach at Longhaughton. We had an excellent time chasing balls and waves, and I was able to run around to my heart’s content. Having burned off some energy, we headed to the second-hand bookshop in Alnwick, Barter Books, for a browse and some lunch. My humans pulled me towards the Philosophy section, but I made sure they visited the dog treat jar en route. While they browsed, I said hello to the other dogs, and had a big drink of water from the bowls provided. Then we all settled down by the fire to read. Next up was the Alnwick pet shop, Northumbria Pets, where we got my gotcha-versary present: a warm, wind-proof coat with a tartan lining. The shopkeepers admired me and gave me lots of treats: I think it’s my favourite shop. The most blissful experience for the dog owner can be to relax on your holidays knowing your pooch is having the time of his life and what better way to do it as to be right by your side!
One of our truly pawtastic weekends was spent at "Oskada park" campsite in Malton, UK or as my furry friends would call it "doggy heaven". Fully enclosed (and I really mean it, I have beagles!), secure campsite with room for caravans, motorhomes, tourers and tents of all sizes with easy access for even the largest vans - dedicated to all kinds of dogs - fluffy, tiny, enormous, spotted, goofy and playful - all have a warm welcome from campsite`s owner Gem and her human mum Penny. Although advertised as an `adults only` this campsite has not only an agility course, but also a slide and two trampolines including one for those "I`m not fat, I`m fluffy" ones and even their humans! If it gets too hot your dog will be thrilled for splashing in the stream which runs through the campsite and a pool for the bravest tail-waggers never mind the extensive field to exercise and sniff all the messages left by other four legged buddies. Well thanks to Steve sending us an email from 'Dog Friendly Holidays' with a discount for certain holidays and dogs going free with the special code we decided to take the plunge and have a go. Having recently lost our old dog we felt our other one would really now enjoy a Forest Holiday which may have been too much for the old boy so we booked a wood chalet in the Forest of Dean with Forest Holidays for a long weekend (Friday - Monday). The chalet was great, very large with a lovely lounge opening into the kitchen with doors onto 2 decked fully fenced patios, one with a jacuzzi. We had 2 double bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The chalet had everything you needed and even had underfloor heating which kept it nice and cosy. There was cafe and shop on site and the dogs were allowed in both. The woodland behind our cabin had several trails to follow and even though it rained most of the time on the Saturday we had some nice walks.
Criccieth is on the south side of the Llyn peninsula so benefits from a beautiful late afternoon sun and is an ideal time to walk one or both of it's two beaches and in mid September the tide is at it's lowest around 15:00 revealing miles of open sand. We headed for the east beach so parked up on the esplanarde, if this is full there is also a carpark at the far end. The beach directly infront of the esplanarde is Blue Flag awarded so not open to dogs, so walk eastwards down a concrete ramp infront of Dylan's Resturant and the pitch & putt coarse, the first hundred yards or so is shingle and pebbles so take apropriate footware but after that it's barefoot all the way on gorgeous golden sand. Behind you are the snowdonian mountains providing a shelter from the westerly winds and infront of you the water is shallow and warm, benefiting from the gulf stream passing close by which brings in seals, porpoises and dolphins along the surf if your lucky. With the tide at it's lowest you can walk all the way to the neighbouring beach of Black Sands, passing rock cliffs with caves and rockpools to explore, just remember when the tide comes back in it will cut off the beach side access from one to the other. There are numarous beaches in Wales but for me this is one of the finest for it's view's of Cardigan Bay, the snowdonian mountains and miles of walking at low tide.
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