Highside Farm

Highside Farm earns a top paw rating of 5 out of 5. It is one of the more uniformly well-reviewed pet-friendly stays in the Keswick area on the evidence of confirmed pet-traveller reviews, and the context for that is unusual: this is a working sheep farm a few minutes north of Keswick, run by hosts (Deborah and family) who keep several dogs of their own around the yard. Guests bringing a dog tend to describe it less as a transactional pet-friendly hotel and more as arriving at a place where dogs are simply part of the rhythm of life.

Confirmed pet-travelling reviewers — including couples who arrived with two dogs and solo travellers with a single companion — call out the room itself as well set up for dogs: enough floor space for a bed and bowls, hard-wearing surfaces, and the small but useful luxuries of an in-room coffee machine, milk in a fridge, and a microwave so guests can prepare an early meal before a long walk without leaving the dog alone. One reviewer with an anxious dog noted that there was plenty of room for the dog to hide under the bed, which is the kind of detail that only matters if you have actually stayed there with one. Hosts have given lifts back from the trail head when guests had been walking all day, and meet guests with personal recommendations for nearby places to eat that take dogs.

The position is a quiet practical advantage for walkers with dogs. The farm sits at the start of one of the trails up Skiddaw, with the Northern and Western Fells, Bassenthwaite Lake and Keswick all within easy driving distance — a true door-to-fell stay rather than one that requires getting in the car first. Two practical caveats to know going in. The farm is a working farm with livestock, so dogs need to be under proper control during the walk in and out (off-lead-only enthusiasts may suit a more secluded rural cottage). And rooms are accessed via internal stairs in places — the Sheepfold room in particular is up a flight of steps. Highside Farm best suits couples and small groups with confident, social dogs who will be relaxed around other animals, on a base-camp trip oriented around fell walking.