Penny Rigg Cottage

Penny Rigg Cottage is about as easy a Lake District base as you will find for a couple of dogs: a whole cottage in the middle of Coniston village, with its own parking space and the fells starting more or less at the end of the road. Two pets are welcome and the owners do not charge for them, which is unusual enough in the Lakes to be worth saying plainly.

Because you take the whole house, there are no shared corridors or lounges to negotiate and no other guests to work around. Dog owners staying here tend to pick out two practical things: the small gardens either side of the cottage, handy for a last-thing-at-night trip outside, and the porch, which has plenty of hanging space for wet coats and leads. In Coniston, in almost any month, that porch earns its keep.

Inside it is a comfortable four-person cottage rather than a designer one, with a well-equipped kitchen, two large en-suite bathrooms and enough living space that a dog is not underfoot. The village setting is the real draw. Shops and pubs are a couple of minutes on foot, Coniston Water is a short walk further, and the Coppermines valley track climbs away from the village behind the cottage, so you can do a proper hour on the fell without putting the dog in the car.

The niggles guests raise are small and domestic, a shortage of towel pegs and a wish for a bigger mirror upstairs, and none of them touch the dog side of things. The thing to check is the garden: it is more a pair of useful outdoor corners than a secure run, so if your dog cannot be trusted off-lead near a village street, plan on lead walks from the door.

Best for one or two couples bringing a dog or two who want to walk from the doorstep rather than drive to a trailhead, and who would rather not pay a pet supplement on top of the nightly rate.