Dog Friendly Holidays UK: The Top Ten

If you’re looking for dog friendly holidays UK locations should be at the top of your list. The country is full of great natural places to explore, and more and more attractions are becoming dog friendly. Bearing that in mind, this is our choice of the top ten places to have the best dog friendly holidays in the UK.

The UK’s southernmost county is a great place to explore with a dog, and it can be hard to narrow down just one place. We’ve chosen mid-Cornwall. The area around Redruth and Portreath has plenty on offer for two and four legged visitors: Perranporth Beach has one of the best dog friendly beaches in the area (another is Holywell Bay just up the coast near Newquay), and the nearby Trelissick Park and Woods – between Truro and Falmouth – is ideal for dogs and their owners. There are miles of open parkland and woods to explore, and you can buy dog biscuits at the kiosk in the car park or Crofter’s café.

Framlingham in Suffolk is a fine place for you and your furry friend to take a holiday. The Suffolk countryside is always beautiful whatever the season, and nearby attractions Framlingham Castle and Helmingham Hall in Stowmarket welcome dogs on leads. The famous Suffolk coastline is only a few miles drive away too, your dog will love running along the beach with the wind in its ears.

Lancashire is another great county for dog friendly holidays, and Clitheroe is one of the best towns. Its position in the heart of the Ribble Valley and close to the Forest of Bowland means it’s perfectly placed for beautiful countryside walks, and local attractions including Whalley Abbey Gatehouse, and Sawley Abbey welcome dogs and their owners.

Scarborough was Britain’s first seaside resort, and they’ve been welcoming holidaymakers for over 360 years. The two sandy beaches are just made for running on and are available to dogs between October and April. During high season there are still plenty of places to go for dog owners such as Burton Agnes Manor House, Scarborough Castle, and Skipsea Castle, while the North York Moors is only a short drive away.

The walled town of Berwick-upon-Tweed is an ideal base for dog owners to explore Northumberland. It’s England’s northernmost town and has been fought over for centuries, changing hands thirteen times before the English took control in 1482. You can explore the legacy of this tumultuous past with your dog by taking them for a walk along the town walls, or around Britain’s earliest barracks building. Outside the walls you’ll find miles and miles of dramatic countryside to roam.

At the other end of the country is Tenterden in Kent. This charming town is the gateway to the High Weald AONB, with all its intriguing sights and smells. If you do exhaust the possibilities of this medieval landscape with its wooded hills and sandstone outcrops, then the town itself has plenty to do, and you can even take your dog on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway.

Further along the south coast is Sussex, and historic Hastings is ideal for dog friendly holidays. Sandwiched between the sea and the High Weald AONB, this is prime dog walking territory. Hastings Country Park is a particular favourite with dog owners, and for a change of pace why not visit Carr Taylor vineyard in nearby Westfield where dogs are more than welcome on the trails?

On the Norfolk/Suffolk border is the pretty market town of Beccles. It’s a serene area in the lush Waveney valley that will provide you with hours of roaming. It’s also next to the tranquil Norfolk Broads and many dog owners zip their pets into specialist lifejackets and sail a boat along these manmade waterways. The coast at Lowestoft is only a few miles from Beccles, and your dog will love chasing along the beach and splashing in the shallow surf.

The Welsh are particularly accommodating when it comes to dog friendly holidays, and we’ve selected Llandovery as our recommendation. The market town in Carmarthenshire is a gateway to the Brecon Beacons, a huge area of green open spaces where your dog can run and sniff to his heart’s content, and perhaps even find a rabbit or two to chase.

Dogs love the beach. There’s sand to run on, sea to splash in, rock pools to explore, and a whole host of interesting smells to track. One place that regularly crops up in lists of best dog-friendly beaches is Saunton Sands in Devon. Three miles of sand, and some amazing surf means this is guaranteed to be a very waggy-tailed holiday.