2 Kirk View, Ashford

2 Kirk View is a three-storey holiday home in Singleton, on the western edge of Ashford, and the thing that makes it work for dog owners is the private garden. It is enclosed, it belongs to the house rather than being shared, and it means a dog can be let out first thing without a lead or a walk being organised around it. Free off-street parking sits alongside, which matters more than it sounds when you arrive with crates, beds and a boot full of kit.

Dog owners who have stayed point to that secure garden as the reason they booked, and the owner comes across as accommodating about the practicalities. Parties have been given permission to arrive earlier in the day so they could drive overnight in cooler conditions with the dogs asleep in the car - the kind of flexibility that is genuinely useful in summer and that plenty of self-catering owners will not offer. Families report their dogs settled quickly and enjoyed the house.

The setting is ordinary in a helpful way. Singleton is a quiet residential suburb rather than a tourist street, so there is room to walk a dog around the neighbourhood before bed, and the house is a short drive from Ashford town centre and out into the Kent countryside. Inside, three floors and a games room give a larger group space to spread out.

Two things to weigh. Guests have described the house as a little grubby and tired in places, with a spring clean overdue - worth knowing if you are particular about what a dog will be lying on. And the booking listing publishes no pet policy at all: no fee, no limit on numbers, no house rules. Agree all of that with the owner before you book rather than assuming.

Best suited to a family or group who want space, parking and a garden they can shut the gate on, and who care more about those than about polish.