Spacious Country Cottage, Westwood

This is a large country cottage at Elms Cross near Westwood, a few miles from Bradford-on-Avon and a short drive from Bath, and it is one of the more thoroughly dog-minded self-catering places in the area. The welcome is not just a permission slip: dog owners arriving here regularly find a bed, blankets, bowls, treats, towels and a spare lead already waiting, whether or not they asked for any of it.

The grounds are the reason to book. The garden is enclosed and opens straight off the lounge, and there are separate fields on the property that can be hired for off-lead exercise, which makes a real difference if your dog does not recall reliably. One thing to know before letting a dog loose in the garden: chickens and ducks roam free on the property, so dogs need to be on a lead until you have judged how they react to birds.

Inside, the cottage is big, exceptionally well stocked and comfortable, with an open fire and a generous supply of logs in winter, a fire pit outside, and enough space that a group with more than one dog is not tripping over itself. Dogs are reported to settle quickly here, which usually says more about the space and the quiet than about the furnishings.

Two caveats are worth weighing. Because the house genuinely takes dogs, it carries a faint dog smell that some visitors notice on arrival; the listing flags it in advance, so it should not come as a surprise, but it is there. And the setting is properly rural, with no pavements on the lanes and nothing within walking distance, so a car is essential and road walking is not an option. The heating has also been found switched off on arrival in colder months, and a house this size takes a while to catch up.

Best suited to groups and families travelling with dogs who want space, an enclosed garden and hireable exercise fields within reach of Bath; less suited to anyone without a car, or to dogs that cannot be trusted around free-range poultry.