Lake District Penrith
The Kings Arms Temple Sowerby
Independent pet-friendly review by Four Legged Guests · updated August 2026 · paw rating built from 15 verified guest reviews mentioning pets
Bring your dog if
- You're happy with a standard hotel-room stay where the property explicitly welcomes dogs
- You're basing yourself in Penrith / the Lake District and want a pet-friendly anchor for day trips
- The wider guest experience is strong - guests rate this 9.3/10 overall on booking platforms
Worth knowing
- Pet fee: £20 per pet per stay - research-verified; confirm at booking
- Shared corridors and common areas mean nervous or vocal dogs may find it harder to settle
How this review was built Evidence, sources, refresh cadence
- Evidence: 15 pet-mention guest reviews sourced from major booking platforms - guests who explicitly mentioned travelling with a dog. Each review is screened for pet-relevance, then judged for sentiment to compute the paw rating.
- Not a personal visit. We don't stay at every hotel we cover - we summarise patterns from real guest reviews, paraphrased and never quoted verbatim. Full standard on our editorial policy page.
- Wider context: The property has 260 guest reviews overall across booking platforms, averaging 9.3/10 - the paw rating reflects only the pet-mentioning subset.
- Last refreshed: August 2026. Policies and pricing drift; we re-check on a rolling basis. Confirm specifics with the property at the moment you book.
- How the paw rating works: Full detail on the methodology page, including the three verification gates and known limitations.
Pet policy at a glance
- On-site pet amenities: dog bed, food and water bowls, poo bags, dog treats, and a towel for muddy paws in the bar.
- The charge is 20 pounds per dog per stay, not per night.
- Say you are bringing a dog when you book, and give its size, so a dog-friendly room is set aside.
- Keep dogs off the furniture and beds, and on a lead inside the building.
- Service animals are explicitly welcomed.
- Check directly if you are travelling with a cat or another non-canine pet.
Pet-friendly summary
The Kings Arms at Temple Sowerby is the sort of place people rebook the moment they get home. It is a village pub-hotel a few miles east of Penrith, five minutes off the A66, and it does dogs properly: a bed, food and water bowls, treats and poo bags waiting in the room, and a towel by the bar for muddy paws. Dogs are welcome in the bar, the lounge and the dining areas, and the charge is a flat 20 pounds per dog for the whole stay rather than a nightly add-on.
What guests travelling with pets keep coming back to is the attitude. Dogs get greeted rather than tolerated, staff and management are quick and friendly, and the in-room touches turn up without having to be asked for. Plenty of people say it is the most dog-friendly place they have stayed, and a good number arrive as a stopover and then book a proper stay later. The food is a real part of the appeal, breakfast in particular, and the rooms are comfortable and quiet, with pub noise not carrying upstairs even on a Saturday night.
Temple Sowerby is a pretty village with easy walking straight from the door, and the National Trust's Acorn Bank gardens are about twenty minutes on foot. Ullswater and the eastern fells are a short drive west, and the position just off the A66 makes it an easy overnight break on the run north to Scotland or south towards the Dales.
The caveats are small ones. Dog-friendly rooms are allocated on request, so say you are bringing a dog when you book and mention its size - turning up unannounced risks the wrong room. Dogs need to stay off the beds and furniture and on a lead inside the building. Evening meals occasionally miss the mark even though breakfast rarely does, and not every room has a television.
Best suited to anyone travelling with one or two well-mannered dogs who wants a genuinely dog-centred country pub near Penrith, whether as a high-quality A66 stopover or as a base for Ullswater and the northern Pennines.
Highlights from pet-mentioning reviews
What reviewers travelling with dogs consistently noted about staying here.
- Dog bed, bowls, treats and poo bags in-room
- Flat 20 pound charge per dog per stay
- Muddy-paw towel kept by the bar
- Dogs welcome in bar, lounge and dining
- Easy A66 stopover on the run north
- Acorn Bank gardens a short walk away
About this hotel
The Kings Arms is a four-star pub-hotel with rooms in Temple Sowerby, a village a few miles east of Penrith and five minutes from the A66. It has a bar, lounge, restaurant, games room and a raised beer garden, with the National Trust's Acorn Bank gardens a short walk away.
Hotel facts
Photos
Location
The Kings Arms, Temple Sowerby, Penrith, CA10 1SB
