Craigfa Cottage, Tregarth

Craigfa Cottage sits on Braich Talog, a lane above Tregarth in the hills between Bethesda and Bangor, and it makes a good base for a Snowdonia trip with a dog. The house is reverse-level and unusually spacious for the area, sleeping nine across three bedrooms, with a woodburner, a balcony off the top-floor living space and French doors from the main bedroom onto the back garden.

Dogs are welcome, but within tighter limits than the size of the house suggests: one dog per booking, and small dogs only. For a property that sleeps nine that is worth settling before anyone commits, because a party that size often travels with more than one. No pet charge is published, so confirm that separately when you book. Outside there is a gated entrance, a grass field at the front and open country immediately beyond.

Two things about the outdoor space are worth knowing, because they are exactly the details that decide whether a house works for a dog. The garden is not exclusively yours - the property is semi-detached and the adjoining unit shares the outside space, which has caught out guests who booked partly for the room to let a dog off the lead. And there is an open pond in the grounds with no fence around it, raised by more than one party. A dog that will not stay out of water, or that cannot be trusted around another group of children, needs watching outside rather than leaving to it.

The location does a lot of the work. The Penrhyn Quarry zip line is about ten minutes away, Snowdon and the Ogwen valley are a short drive, and the coast at Bangor is under five miles, so hill days and easy flat walks are both within reach. Guests are consistent that the house itself is light, modern and spacious, though the cleaning has been inconsistent on some stays and getting hold of the managing agent has been difficult for more than one group.

It suits a larger party heading for the mountains with one small dog in tow, who want space and a rural setting and are comfortable with a shared garden and an unfenced pond.