The Old Vicarage, Ambleside

The Old Vicarage is a four-star guesthouse on Vicarage Road in Ambleside, a period building set just off the main drag so it is central without the traffic noise. It has its own parking right outside, a pool, sauna and hot tub, and reading and sun rooms - unusual for a dog-friendly place at this size, and it has become one of the more reliably recommended dog stays in the village.

Dogs stay free in every room, and the welcome is the thing guests with dogs return to again and again: staff make a genuine fuss of the dog on arrival, and owners bringing a nervous dog, or travelling with dogs for the first time, describe being put at ease within minutes. Rooms are spacious, several are on the ground floor, and the walking paths out of Ambleside start close by.

The one restriction worth planning around: dogs are not allowed in the breakfast room. In practice that matters less than it sounds, because breakfast can be pre-ordered and brought to your room, and guests with anxious dogs consistently name that as the detail that made the stay work - you are not choosing between a cooked breakfast and leaving the dog alone. Breakfast itself draws near-universal praise either way.

A few honest caveats. There is no small grass area set aside for dogs to relieve themselves, so the first trip of the morning is a walk rather than a step outside. There is no evening food on site, which means going out into Ambleside - easy enough, but worth knowing if you would rather not leave a dog in the room. Rooms can run warm, and beds are on the soft side.

Best suited to a couple with one or two dogs who want a proper guesthouse with facilities rather than a self-catering unit, and who value staff that actively want the dog there.