The Castle Inn, Bradford on Avon

The Castle Inn stands on Mount Pleasant, a short climb above the centre of Bradford on Avon, and it is the kind of small town inn where a dog walking into the bar is treated as a guest rather than a complication. Guests travelling with dogs describe being made a fuss of on arrival, and the welcome comes up more consistently in their accounts than the rooms do.

The pet arrangement here is specific and worth planning around. Dogs stay in the Large Double Room only, one pet per booking, at an extra charge per night. That single-room restriction is the detail most likely to catch you out: if the Large Double is already taken for your dates there is no second pet-friendly option to fall back on, so book well ahead rather than turning up hopeful.

Breakfast draws steady praise, with good-quality sausages and black pudding cooked to order, and staff are named repeatedly for being helpful and unhurried, including over awkward requests like seating a large family group together. The inn works as a walkable base: the town centre, the Kennet and Avon canal towpath and the river are a few minutes downhill, so the early and late walks happen without the car. Bath is a short train ride away for a day out.

Two caveats. The bathrooms are tired next to the bedrooms, with loose taps and shower fittings that do not quite work reported by guests who otherwise rated their stay well. And because this is a dog-friendly inn with rooms above a pub, you may hear other people's dogs at night; light sleepers have flagged barking as the thing that disturbed them. Neither is a reason to stay away, but both are worth knowing in advance.

Best suited to couples with one well-behaved dog who want a walkable Wiltshire town base with good food, and who can book the Large Double far enough ahead to be sure of it. It earns a 4.5/5 paw rating.