Dorset Durweston
The Old Stables
Independent pet-friendly review by Four Legged Guests · updated October 2026 · paw rating built from 1 verified guest review mentioning pets
Bring your dog if
- You want a whole-property rental - no shared lobbies or corridors to navigate with your dog
- You're basing yourself in Durweston / the Dorset and want a pet-friendly anchor for day trips
- The wider guest experience is strong - guests rate this 9.7/10 overall on booking platforms
Worth knowing
- Paw rating sits on a single confirmed pet review - expect movement as more data arrives
- Pet fee and any size restrictions aren't published - confirm directly with the property before booking
How this review was built Evidence, sources, refresh cadence
- Evidence: 1 pet-mention guest review 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 24 guest reviews overall across booking platforms, averaging 9.7/10 - the paw rating reflects only the pet-mentioning subset.
- Last refreshed: October 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-friendly summary
The Old Stables is a spacious self-catering house in farmland north-west of Blandford Forum, near Winterborne Stickland and neighbouring Durweston, and it makes a relaxed base for a family holiday with a dog. You have the whole house, and the enclosed front garden means a dog can be let out without a lead while the kettle boils.
Guests bringing a dog describe the property as ideal for one, pointing to that garden and to the countryside walks that start close by. The house itself draws consistent praise: lots of space, a very well-stocked kitchen, comfortable beds, books and games, and a fire for colder evenings. The hosts come across as attentive, quick to sort out the occasional minor issue and thoughtful about late arrivals. It is one of several units on the site, which share a games room that children in particular enjoy.
The location is quiet and properly rural, surrounded by fields and around seven minutes by car from Blandford Forum for shops. That remoteness is part of the appeal, but you will need a car for everything, and the Jurassic Coast and Stonehenge are each roughly an hour's drive.
A few small points come up. The house can get warm in hot weather, the games room lighting is on the dim side, and one stay found a strong cleaning-product smell on arrival covering a drain smell in the main bathroom. None of it is to do with dogs, and the overall guest score is 9.7 out of 10 across 24 reviews.
The booking listing does not set out a pet fee or a dog limit, so check both with the hosts before you travel. The Old Stables suits families and groups who want plenty of space, a secure garden for the dog and countryside on the doorstep, and it earns a 4.5/5 paw rating.
Highlights from pet-mentioning reviews
What reviewers travelling with dogs consistently noted about staying here.
- Enclosed front garden for dogs
- Countryside walks close by
- Spacious, very well-equipped house
- Shared games room for children
- Quiet farmland setting, car essential
About this hotel
The Old Stables is a four-star self-catering house let in its entirety in farmland north-west of Blandford Forum, near Winterborne Stickland and Durweston. It is spacious and well equipped, with an enclosed front garden and a shared games room on site, and makes a quiet rural base for exploring north Dorset.
Hotel facts
Photos
Location
Durweston, DT11 0EB
