48 Oak Street, Windermere

48 Oak Street is a large townhouse in the centre of Windermere, a couple of minutes' walk from the shops, cafes and the train and bus stations, and its main appeal for dog owners is that it takes a big group and their dog without anyone feeling squeezed. Parties of seven or eight plus a dog have found room to spread out, with two front rooms so the adults and the children can have a space each.

Two dogs can stay, and there is one rule worth reading twice before you book: dogs are welcome on the ground and lower ground floors only, so the upstairs bedrooms are off limits to them. There is a small enclosed courtyard, though access to it has not been reliable, and dog owners have arrived to find the back gate fenced off and no way to let the dog straight out at the rear. If quick outdoor access matters to you, check the current arrangement with the property before you travel. The compensation is the setting: there is a park at the end of the street that dogs take to immediately, the food shops are at the other end, and the fells and lakeshore walks are minutes away.

Thoughtful extras turn up that the listing does not mention, including dog bowls. The honest weakness is housekeeping between changeovers, and it is the recurring complaint here: guests have arrived to dog hair over the sofas, dust and cobwebs, sticky floors, dirty crockery in the cupboards and dog mess left in the garden. Others have found the house perfectly clean, so it reads as inconsistent rather than uniformly poor, but it is fair warning to give the place a once-over on arrival and raise anything straight away. A neighbouring dog can also be noisy enough to spoil sitting out in the courtyard.

With a 4.4/5 paw rating, 48 Oak Street suits dog owners in a larger group who want a genuinely central Windermere base and can work around a ground-floor-only rule and a courtyard that may not be open.