The Old Shop, Studio Hideout, Stoke Fleming

The Old Shop is a small studio hideout in Stoke Fleming, a coastal village a few miles south of Dartmouth, and it suits one or two people travelling with a dog. It is a self-contained conversion rather than part of a hotel, so there is no lobby or shared corridor to steer a nervous dog through, and the private terrace is the part dog owners tend to single out - somewhere for the dog to stretch out while you sit with a drink in the evening.

Guests who have brought dogs here report that a full-size dog fits without the studio feeling crowded, with retrievers settling happily on the terrace. Only a small number of visitors have written about the place specifically as a dog-friendly stay, so there is less pet feedback to go on than at a larger property, but what there is is warm.

The property does not publish its pet terms on its booking listing. The fee, the maximum number of dogs and any size or breed limits are therefore unknown until you ask, so message the owner before you book rather than assuming. Guests consistently praise the host's communication, so a straight answer should not be hard to come by.

Stoke Fleming itself is quiet and walkable, with a pub, a restaurant and a village shop, and the South Devon coast sits right on the doorstep for morning walks. A parking space comes with the property, which matters when you arrive with a dog and a boot full of kit. Dartmouth is a short drive away when you want more choice of places to eat, and there is a bus stop alongside the parking space.

The main thing to weigh is size. This is a genuinely compact studio: guests who turned up with a second dog have found it tight, and those hoping to spread out indoors have said so too. With two people and one medium or large dog it works nicely, which is roughly where its 4.5/5 paw rating lands. A pair of dogs, or anyone wanting room to move around inside, would be better served by somewhere bigger.