Room at the Back, 2 George Street

Room at the Back sits a few steps from the seafront in Avoch, a working fishing village on the Black Isle, and it turns out to be an unusually easy place to arrive with a dog. It is a compact self-contained room behind the owner's house rather than a hotel, so there is no lobby or lounge to cross with a dog in tow, and no other guests to negotiate on the way in.

Guests travelling with dogs consistently describe a welcome that goes past mere tolerance. The room comes stocked with a kettle, a microwave and a small supply of treats, and dogs are made a fuss of on arrival rather than quietly counted. One detail worth knowing before you book: the host keeps two dogs of her own on the property. Guests mention them warmly and repeatedly note how quiet they are, but if your dog is reactive around other dogs it is worth raising that at the time of booking.

The location does most of the work. The Moray Firth shore is a couple of minutes away, with a pebble beach and a level seafront path that suits a short morning outing as easily as a long one, and Chanonry Point, one of the best places in Britain to watch bottlenose dolphins from land, is a short drive up the coast. Inverness is about twenty minutes by bus, which keeps the village quiet without cutting you off.

It is a small room and it is priced accordingly. Guests looking for space have found the double bed tight for two, particularly as one side sits against a wall, and there has been a report of a musty smell in the bedding, put down to the floor mats. Parking is on the street rather than at the door, though nobody has reported struggling to find a space. It earns a 4.7/5 paw rating, and suits couples and solo travellers with one well-behaved dog who want the coast on the doorstep rather than a hotel around them.