Caban Coetir, Cenarth

Caban Coetir is a timber cabin on the Penlan Holiday Village site at Cenarth, in the Teifi valley on the Carmarthenshire border. It is a whole-cabin let with woodland around it, and dogs settle into it quickly by all accounts. The owner is the other consistent positive: friendly, contactable and quick to sort problems, which has mattered here more than once.

The site itself is the draw for families. There is woodland to walk in, a play area and a pool, and the cabin has been refurbished recently enough for guests to notice. Cenarth's falls and the Teifi riverside walks are close by, and the wider valley gives you a week of walking without repeating yourself.

Two things need saying before you book with a dog. First, the site layout puts the dog-walking area directly alongside the children's play area, and the play area is not fenced. An incident between a loose dog and a child has been reported there, so keep yours on a lead nearby and be aware that other people's may not be. Second, damp has been reported inside the cabin, in one case strongly enough to affect bedding and towels and to move a guest with asthma out of the main bedroom. It is worth checking on arrival if anyone in your party, human or canine, has a respiratory problem.

Beyond that, the grumbles are the ordinary ones for a remote self-catering cabin: patchy Wi-Fi, the occasional utility outage that the owner resolved fast, an unreliable freezer, nowhere obvious to dry wet coats and dog towels, thin curtains in the smaller bedrooms, and outdoor space that has been found overgrown at the start of a stay. The bathroom is dated.

It earns a 4.3/5 paw rating. It suits families with a dog who want woodland and river walks on a quiet site and will take the cabin as it comes, rather than anyone expecting a polished holiday-park experience.