Garden Lodge, Coventry

Garden Lodge is a self-contained cabin tucked into the garden of a house on Job's Lane in Coventry, and for a night or two with a dog it punches well above what the photographs suggest. The lodge has its own small enclosed garden and sits behind secure electric gates with off-road parking, so the last trip out at night involves no lead, no street and no shared hallway.

The host is the reason this place collects the reviews it does. Guests arriving with dogs describe being met at the gate and helped in with bags, offered flexible check-in and check-out, and finding dog towels and poo bags put out alongside milk, tea and soft drinks. Several guests report that no extra charge was made for their dog, but no pet fee is published either way, so confirm it when you book.

It is a compact space rather than a holiday cottage, and it suits that job well: one big room with a comfortable double, a proper shower, cooking facilities, a freezer compartment, controllable heating and enough table space to work at. The setting is quiet and residential but handy for the NEC at around twenty minutes, Stoneleigh Park, Nailcote Hall and Coventry city centre.

Two things are worth weighing. Because dogs genuinely do stay here, guests without one have noticed a strong dog smell in the lodge, and a guest with an allergy found hair left behind along with dusty surfaces and a bathroom that had not been properly cleaned between stays. That is housekeeping rather than policy, and the large majority of stays describe the lodge as spotless, but it is the pattern sitting behind the lower scores. Smaller niggles include a skylight with no blind that lets the dawn in and a temperamental TV. With a 4.7/5 paw rating, Garden Lodge suits solo travellers and couples with one or two dogs who want a secure private garden and a genuinely helpful host for a short stay near Coventry.