Brookfield Lodge, Beaminster

Brookfield Lodge is a single-storey holiday lodge on a working smallholding outside Drimpton, a quiet village in west Dorset a few miles from Beaminster. The whole lodge is yours, the garden is fully enclosed, and the owners live next door and are around if you need them. It is one of the more comfortably dog-shaped places on this stretch of the county, and it earns a 4.8/5 paw rating.

Dogs cost £30 per pet, per week, with up to two per booking. The practical detail owners keep coming back to is the garden: properly enclosed, big enough for a couple of dogs to let off steam, and it means a dog can go out at any hour without a lead or a walk down a lane. Guests arriving with dogs are met with a homemade Dorset cream tea, and the dogs get a bowl of biscuits of their own, which sets the tone for the week.

The smallholding is part of the appeal and worth thinking about in advance. There are horses, ducks, chickens and cats in the owners' garden next door, and most dogs find them endlessly interesting from behind the fence. Owners of dogs that are reactive around livestock have found the hosts happy to work around it, but a phone call before booking is sensible if that describes yours.

Inside, the lodge is step-free throughout with a wet room, so it suits guests with mobility issues as well as it suits dogs, and there is a games room that keeps children occupied on wet days. The village pub is a four-minute walk and takes dogs, and Bridport, West Bay, Lyme Regis and Forde Abbey are all within easy reach, though a car is essential out here.

The niggles are minor and mostly cosmetic. The garden can look a little unkempt between cuts, the beds are on the soft side if you like a firm mattress, and television and broadband are basic. The lodge is also hard to spot from the road, so watch for the signs at the bottom of the drive. Best suited to dog owners who want a quiet, level, self-catering Dorset base with a secure garden and hosts who genuinely like dogs.