What's the best dog-friendly UK family holiday you've been on?

[PeppaPigWorld]

Looking for some ideas and inspiration for a family holiday this summer with primary-aged children and dog. We're hoping to do some walking as well as other activities the dc will like. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for places / accommodation / activities etc. We're thinking of maybe renting a cottage, but also open to camping or anything really!

I can't help with camping and cottages however Scarborough as a lot of dog friendly hotels it's worth bearing in mind of Britannia and Travelodge allow dogs , and during the quieter seasons don't always charge any extra.

I used to alternate between going between Scarborough and Southport 3 or 4 times a year at least with my dog thought I have no DCs so it was just me my DH and pooch

The Park at Mawgan Porth in Cornwall

Forest holidays. We don’t have a dog, but I know there are dog friendly cabins available - we also choose the pet free ones. We love it as a family as you’re in the forest (loads of locations in UK), good walks, each cabin has its own hot tub and loads of onsite activities which you pay for - archery, shooting, Forest rangers and trails. Can even get takeaways sent to you from the retreat and we always get an online shop delivered for our arrival - just send to your cabin.

Cabins are good too, all conveniences there and a log burner if you go for the gold level. To be honest, there’s no point getting the log burner level unless it’s winter and you’re in an old location, plus you have to buy logs and the stuff to go with it. We went to one of their newer sites which had underfloor heating and was gutted we didn’t use the log burner as it was generally toasty! Whilst you get some added thugs like dressing gowns and a nespresso machine (take your own pods!), there isn’t really a benefit of going rhe level up.

No thugs at Forest holidays! Things* ha!

Rent a cottage or chalet in the Lake District, many pubs and cafes are dog friendly and you won't be short of things to do with the kids.

Isle of Wight - loads of accommodation options - but we like it here:

www.awayresorts.co.uk/parks/isle-of-wight/whitecliff-bay

The whole island is dog friendly and loads for the kids to do.

We're going to the north Norfolk coast this summer in cottages (we have one week with another family in a house, then a week on our own in a different place in a much smaller place) through a company who specialise in dog friendly holidays. The first week we are 150m from a massive dog friendly beach, the dogs can go everywhere in the house (carefully checked after we went to a dogs allowed cottage where there were so many rules about what they could do it was stressful) and loads of info about cafes etc to take the dogs

Rent a cottage and make absolutely sure it has a secure garden that is directly attached to the cottage, so that you don't always have to move yourself to take the dog out if the weather's nice and you can leave doors open (obviously you need to make sure garden is cleared extremely efficiently!).

Northumberland is very dog friendly and fantastic scenery and beaches. Cornwall always good, but crowded and expensive. The Gower is lovely.

Bucketloads of places really - depends where you are and what you want to do with yourselves.

This is the best dog friendly place we've ever been Quantock Cottages in Somerset. Secure garden, walks straight into the hills, dog friendly pub. When we next go to Somerset we'll be booking here again.

We go to Forest Holidays every New Year. As HelpfulAlex says it's very dog friendly. We've been to about 5 different ones so far. I think it's expensive for what it is though.

We’ve had plenty of dog friendly holidays in Northumbria

Hay-on-Wye was great. Nearly all the pubs, shops and cafes were dog friendly and there are so many great walks around there.

As PP said Gower is lovely too (biased as I live there).

Agree with Northumbria or Scotland. Dog-friendly cottages, beaches and pubs. Can do walks, boat trips to see wildlife, there are always parks or stately piles with great playgrounds and good cake. Took DS to Eilean Donnan at primary age about 10 years ago and one of the room stewards took DS outside to twirl a full-size sword!

We've stayed in a lodge at Una St Ives which was super dog friendly , there's a pool/gym on site and restaurant that you can take dogs into. We had breakfast there every day, and they do amazing takeaway pizza for evenings. You can walk to Carbis Bay too, our dog loved it there.

Also Gara Rock near Salcombe, but I have a feeling it's been taken over and has got very pricey!

Thank you so much for all these great ideas.

We definitely need to narrow it down to location. The Lake District would be great, but I just wonder how busy it will be in the summer. A quick look at a few places seems to suggest many places are already booked up. And expensive! But then that seems to be the case everywhere. The same with Forest holidays, which I do love the sound of. And the Isle of Wight and Northumbria have also been on my list of places I'd like to go for a while now.

It looks like finding affordable, available accommodation might be the tricky part!

The Lakes was horrendous last summer. 20 min queue to get into Greggs for a sausage roll and I queued for lunch at a cafe in the middle of nowhere for 90mins one day!

Have you considered a narrowboat? Lifejackets for the kids, countryside with pubs, cafes and walks, feeding ducks and swans. Our dogs love it too, and you can travel long or short distances

Celtic camping in Pembrokeshire, DD's liked it (went kayaking which was a big hit) and ddog loved it because every night we ate in the pub

Try more unusual locations if bookings are an issue eg not national parks

Sorry to be pedantic. It's Northumberland, not Northumbria.
Northumbrian Water
Northumbria Police
Northumbria University

And I'm married to a Northumbrian, but he is from Northumberland

In answer to the OP. Wells-next-the-Sea is probably the most dog friendly holiday destination I have ever visited. Every shop had a bowl of water outside for dogs, and they were welcome in every pub we went to.

I wouldn't go camping though. Wet dog in a tent is awful, and you can't go to anything indoors like the cinema to get out of the rain because you have nowhere to leave the dog.

We found camping with a dog hard work as you have to take them literally everywhere you go and they have to be on a lead on the campsite generally. I agree Norfolk or lakes has lots of nice outdoor stuff but would stay in a cottage. @CMOTDibbler where are you staying? I've been browsing Norfolk dog friendly places all week!

Dog-friendly Air B&B in Porthcurno, Cornwall. Lots of coastal path walks, Minack Theatre, a telecommunications museum, Penzance, several dog friendly beaches, great food locally.

If you want to venture further at some point, France is very dog friendly.

We used to drive to Spain and lots of restaurants would allow Ddog in. He was also allowed into a couple of Chateaux and other attractions in the Loire Valley.

Spain, not so much!

I would second North Norfolk. We don't have a dog ourselves at the moment but we went to Sheringham one year and were struck by how dog friendly it was, and not nearly as bonkers crowded as the Lakes

@fruitpastille we are booked at The Walnut and St Benets