2 Beach Cottage, Plymouth

2 Beach Cottage sits beside Hooe Lake on the eastern edge of Plymouth, a self-catering cottage with a tidal-water outlook, a pub next door and the South West Coast Path effectively on the doorstep. For walking, the position is hard to fault: Turnchapel, Bovisand and Wembury are all within easy reach, a playing field is about a minute away for a quick leg-stretch, and the city itself is a short drive when you want it.

The cottage takes dogs, with house rules attached. They are not allowed upstairs or on the furniture, which is clear enough but worth knowing if yours normally sleeps on the sofa. There is no grass in the courtyard, so the outside space is decking rather than garden.

Where the cottage needs care is safety, particularly for a small dog. The glass decking has gaps beneath it and along the sides, and the front-garden gate is railed with gaps between the bars, so a small or determined dog cannot safely be left out there unwatched. Inside, the stairs are steep, narrow and wooden with no grip, the handrail has been reported broken, and there is no stair gate, which matters because the only toilet is upstairs and dogs have followed guests up to it. Feedback also mentions occasional sewage smells drifting off the lake, parking that is not adjacent to the cottage, and a dark alley on the approach on foot after nightfall.

Best suited to owners of a larger, steady dog who want coast-path access and can work around a compact, characterful cottage that was not designed with pet-proofing in mind. Anyone with a puppy, a small breed or a dog that squeezes through gaps should look elsewhere.