Browns Hotel

Browns Hotel is a small hotel on Victoria Road in the centre of Dartmouth, and it is one of the more wholeheartedly dog-friendly places to stay on the South Devon coast. Every room takes dogs rather than a set-aside handful, so you are not competing for one of two pet rooms when you book late. The charge is 20 pounds for a dog, though it is not stated whether that is per night or per stay, so it is worth pinning down when you call. Dogs are welcome in the bistro and the bar, which means you can eat and drink with your dog rather than taking turns.

What guests with dogs return to again and again is the staff. A Hound Hamper of supplies waiting in the room comes up repeatedly, as do practical favours that are on no published list: storing dog food in the kitchen fridge, handing over a parking voucher at check-in, working around a late arrival off the coast path. The tone is that a dog is a guest rather than something to be managed, and it holds steady enough across stays to read as policy rather than a lucky shift.

The location suits a dog holiday well. Dartmouth's quayside and gardens are a short walk downhill, the town is compact enough to do everything on foot, and the South West Coast Path runs from the edge of town for longer days out. There is no garden at the hotel, which is the one caveat: the nearest green space is the walk down to the quay.

It is an old building and behaves like one. Floors are creaky and uneven, there is no lift and no air conditioning, and the staircase up to the rooms is dated. Some guests find the building carries a faint musty or old-cooking smell, which is not unusual in a period property that welcomes dogs throughout. Dogs stay on a lead downstairs and in the corridors and are not left alone in rooms, which is standard but worth knowing if you had hoped to slip out for dinner without them. For dog owners wanting a warm, central Dartmouth base where the dog is genuinely part of the booking, it earns a 4.5 out of 5 paw rating.