Colliery Cottage, Cornsay

Colliery Cottage is a two-bedroom stone house in Cornsay Colliery, a quiet former pit village in County Durham, and it is set up for dog owners in the way only a whole-house rental can be: no shared corridors, no lift, no reception to walk past. The front door opens onto Commercial Street with parking right outside, and directly across the road is a stretch of woodland that guests with dogs mention more often than anything else about the place.

Dogs are specifically listed as welcome, and the cottage is still routinely described as spotless, a combination that visitors notice and remark on. Milk, snacks and treats are left out on arrival, the heating runs three times a day so the house is warm to come back to after a wet walk, and the rear garden is enclosed. The owner draws a lot of praise for being quick to answer messages and willing to go out of her way, from dropping off extra kit to running an errand for a guest who arrived unwell.

The woodland opposite is the main draw, with longer routes leading out from the village as well. Durham city, Beamish Museum and the Northumberland coast are all comfortable drives, and there is a pub at the bottom of the road plus a bus stop over the street.

Two things are worth knowing before you let a dog loose outside. The enclosed rear garden is laid with artificial grass, which not every dog takes to straight away, and the rear wall is low enough that an agile dog has cleared it, so it is worth a look on arrival rather than an assumption. Beds also divide opinion, with some guests finding them firmer than expected.

Best suited to dog owners who want a warm, genuinely clean base for exploring Durham and the north east, with a proper woodland walk half a minute from the front door. It earns a 4.8/5 paw rating.