The Clealings

The Clealings is a five-bedroom holiday house on the edge of Ducklington, a village just south of Witney in west Oxfordshire, and it is the sort of place families book and then rebook. The house stands in its own extensive, well-kept grounds, and for a group travelling with children and dogs that space is the whole point.

Dogs are welcome for a charge of £25 per dog, payable at the property. No weight limit or breed restriction is attached, and as a whole-house rental it sidesteps the usual friction of travelling with a dog: no shared corridors, no reception desk to cross with a wet dog, and a large patio and garden straight out of the door.

The grounds are what dog owners single out. There is enough open, level ground for dogs to run properly off-lead, and the hedging has grown in considerably since the listing photographs were taken, so the boundary is more enclosed than it looks. Inside, the house is thoroughly equipped - a notably good kitchen, clean linen, log fires for colder months, a games room and a welcome tea tray on arrival - and the ground-floor bedrooms make it workable for older members of a group. The windows look out across open fields.

One thing is worth planning around. Walking out from the house on foot means taking narrow country lanes with no pavement, which is not a comfortable proposition with dogs and children in tow. The answer is a short drive: five or ten minutes puts you on the footpaths around Ducklington, the Windrush water meadows and the open countryside of west Oxfordshire, where the off-lead walking is excellent.

The Clealings suits larger families and groups of friends bringing dogs who want secure private grounds at the door and a proper house rather than a hotel, and who do not mind driving a few minutes to the day's main walk. It earns a 4.8/5 paw rating.