The Toll House, Melrose

The Toll House is a ground-floor flat carved out of a 17th-century toll house right in the middle of Melrose, and it makes an easy base for a couple travelling with a dog. Everything is on one level with no stairs to negotiate, which is a quiet advantage if your dog is elderly, short-legged or simply not keen on a staircase in an unfamiliar building.

The listing allows one dog, and guests who brought theirs were glad they could. The flat sleeps two and has a proper kitchen, so it works for the kind of trip where you cook in after a long day out rather than booking a table somewhere. It is clean, comfortable and well laid out, and earns a 4.4/5 paw rating.

Being this central is the point. Guests with dogs have gone straight out from the door onto good walks and come back through the town on foot, without needing to move the car. Melrose itself is compact enough to cross in a few minutes, with the abbey ruins in the middle, the Eildon Hills rising immediately behind the town and the Tweed a short stroll away. There is plenty of open ground for a dog, though the hill paths cross grazing land, so leads and a bit of livestock sense are sensible.

A few caveats are worth having in advance. The outdoor space is a shared courtyard rather than a private enclosed garden, so this is not a property where a dog can be let out loose and left to it. Parking is free, but how close you get varies: sometimes a few metres from the door, sometimes far enough away to make unloading a chore. Road noise carries in during the day and a neighbouring bar can be heard in the evening, so a dog that reacts to street sounds may take a night to settle. The bed is a small double, and there is no extractor fan in the kitchen.

Best suited to a couple with one dog who want to leave the car parked and explore the Borders on foot.