Lakeland Guest House

Lakeland Guest House is a quirky, owner-run guesthouse on St Patrick's Hill in Llanreath, on the rise above Pembroke Dock, with wide views over the waterway and a household full of animals: family dogs, and a pet pig in the back garden that guests remember long after the room. For an easy-going dog owner it is a cheap, characterful base for the Pembrokeshire Coast, though the animals that already live here shape a stay as much as the one you bring.

Dogs are taken on request rather than as a matter of course, so ring the guest house and agree the stay before you book. A pet is charged £20 per stay on top of the room, once rather than nightly, which owners have still found steep for a budget guesthouse of this kind.

The people are the strength. Guests describe a friendly, family-run place where the staff go out of their way to chat and help, and the views from the rooms draw consistent praise. The location works for the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, Pembroke Castle and the Irish ferry from the dock.

Be clear-eyed about the animal side, because it is the most common complaint on the whole listing. Guests arriving without a dog have found the smell of dog in the reception area strong enough to put them off, one of the rooms looks out onto the dog kennels, and the resident dog has woken guests at six in the morning when other people were checking out. Barking from dogs in the surrounding area carries too. If you love a lived-in, animal-filled guesthouse none of that will bother you; if your own dog is noise-reactive, or you want a quiet night, treat it as a real risk.

The building is budget and dated, and it shows. Guests report cold rooms, a slow and weak shower, tired fittings, the odd thing not working and walls thin enough to hear the next room clearly.

Best suited to a dog owner who wants a cheap, friendly, animal-filled base near the Pembrokeshire coast, has phoned ahead to agree the stay, and does not mind rough edges or a house that smells of dogs.