21 Carter Lane, Mansfield

21 Carter Lane is a big Mansfield house set up for groups, sleeping up to eighteen across several bedrooms with three bathrooms and parking outside. For dog owners the appeal is scale: this is a place a large family or a wedding party can take over completely, dogs included, without anyone sharing a corridor with strangers. Guests who have brought pets describe the hosts as openly welcoming rather than merely tolerant, and say it made the stay feel more relaxed than a hotel would have.

The booking listing carries no pet terms at all - no fee, no weight limit, no cap on numbers - so with a house this size it is worth agreeing how many dogs are coming when you book, particularly if several households are travelling together.

The hosts themselves get consistently good notices. Communication is quick, arrival instructions are clear, and the kitchen is properly equipped for catering for a crowd, which matters when you are feeding people and dogs in the same space.

Two caveats are worth weighing. The step up into the internal courtyard is high, and an older or short-legged dog can struggle with it - awkward, because that courtyard is the outdoor space. And housekeeping between stays is variable: alongside reports of an immaculate house, guests have found residue on the sofa covers left by an earlier party's dog, and the bedding is described as well worn. Bringing your own throws for the sofas is a sensible precaution here, both to protect the furniture and to avoid inheriting what the last dog left. Some bedrooms also catch road noise at night.

The location earns its keep for walking. Mansfield's parks are close, and Sherwood Forest is a short drive for a proper day out. For a group holiday where two or three dogs need to come along and nobody wants to split across separate bookings, this is a practical choice, and it earns a 4.3/5 paw rating.