Rural Retreat, Longframlington

Rural Retreat is a modern self-contained apartment on the edge of Longframlington, in the middle of Northumberland's walking country, and it takes dogs as a matter of course rather than as a favour. Owners travelling with dogs are a regular part of its trade, and several have mentioned that no extra charge was added for bringing one.

The property publishes no pet fee, no weight limit and no cap on numbers, so anyone arriving with more than one dog is worth a quick word with the host before booking. What the apartment does offer is the practical side of a dog holiday: it is warm, spotlessly clean and well equipped, with designated parking outside the door and a host who answers quickly. Owners repeatedly note that their dogs settled in within minutes of arriving, which usually says something about how quiet and self-contained the space is.

Longframlington sits inland from the Northumberland coast with the Cheviots to the west, so the walking on the doorstep is genuinely good and the beaches at Alnmouth and Warkworth are a short drive away.

The caveats matter here, and they are consistent enough to take seriously. There is no enclosed garden or secure outdoor area, so there is nowhere to simply let a dog out. The door opens more or less onto a fast rural road used by large vehicles including horse boxes, footpaths are limited, and there is no gate between the door and the traffic. Owners of dogs that bolt, or that need somewhere safe to potter, have found this the property's real weakness. Nothing is provided for dogs either, so bowls, bedding and towels need to come with you. The name oversells the seclusion a little too: the setting is rural, but it is roadside rural.

All of which puts it at 4.0/5. It suits a reliably lead-trained dog whose owners intend to be out on the hills and beaches all day, and it is the wrong choice for a dog that needs to be let out into a garden unsupervised.