Great Blunts Stables at Stock Brook Manor

Great Blunts Stables is a row of rooms converted from the old stables at Stock Brook Manor, a golf and country club on the edge of Billericay. The conversion is done well, the rooms are quiet, and the setting is the main reason to bring a dog: the club sits in a lot of open ground, so there is proper walking on the doorstep rather than a strip of lawn beside a car park.

Dogs are taken as a matter of course, which in this part of Essex is not a given. Guests travelling with dogs have said the property solved a problem they normally have finding anywhere that will take them at all. Breakfast is a full English and it is included, and the swimming pool is open to room guests, which is an unusual extra on a dog-friendly stay.

There is one restriction that shapes the morning. Dogs are not allowed into the breakfast room. In good weather you can eat outside with the dog, but in bad weather a couple travelling together will either eat in shifts or leave the dog in the room. If breakfast together is part of the point of the trip, factor that in.

The property's booking listing publishes no pet fee, weight limit or maximum number of dogs, so ask directly when you book.

Arrival is the weak spot and it comes up repeatedly. There is no signage at the entrance, satellite navigation routes people to a locked gate, and it is not obvious where to collect keys. Guests have spent the best part of an hour circling before finding reception. Allow extra time and call ahead for directions. Once inside, the operation can be scrappy: room numbers not handed out, information given to one party and not another, and in-room supplies stretched thin.

Best suited to a couple or a business traveller with a dog who wants grounds to walk in, breakfast included and a pool, and who does not mind eating separately from the dog.