Lake District Keswick
The Borrowdale Hotel
Independent pet-friendly review by Four Legged Guests · updated October 2026 · paw rating built from 21 verified guest reviews mentioning pets
Bring your dog if
- You're happy with a standard hotel-room stay where the property explicitly welcomes dogs
- You're basing yourself in Keswick / the Lake District and want a pet-friendly anchor for day trips
- The wider guest experience is strong - guests rate this 8.8/10 overall on booking platforms
Worth knowing
- Pet fee: £25 (max 2 pets) - the amount is published but not what it covers, so confirm the terms when you book
- Shared corridors and common areas mean nervous or vocal dogs may find it harder to settle
How this review was built Evidence, sources, refresh cadence
- Evidence: 21 pet-mention guest reviews sourced from major booking platforms - guests who explicitly mentioned travelling with a dog. Each review is screened for pet-relevance, then judged for sentiment to compute the paw rating.
- Not a personal visit. We don't stay at every hotel we cover - we summarise patterns from real guest reviews, paraphrased and never quoted verbatim. Full standard on our editorial policy page.
- Wider context: The property has 890 guest reviews overall across booking platforms, averaging 8.8/10 - the paw rating reflects only the pet-mentioning subset.
- Last refreshed: October 2026. Policies and pricing drift; we re-check on a rolling basis. Confirm specifics with the property at the moment you book.
- How the paw rating works: Full detail on the methodology page, including the three verification gates and known limitations.
Pet policy at a glance
- Pet fee: £25
- Up to 2 pets per booking
Pet-friendly summary
The Borrowdale Hotel is a Victorian country-house hotel in the Borrowdale Valley, a few miles south of Keswick near the head of Derwentwater, with Catbells and the fells around Scafell within easy reach. It has taken dogs since it opened in 1866, and on a busy evening there can be half a dozen dogs settled in the lounge, which tells you most of what you need to know about who it is for.
The hotel's own policy sets the charge at £25 per dog per night, with up to two dogs per stay, and it currently advertises that up to two dogs stay free on stays of two nights or more. Most bedrooms take dogs, and there are dog-free rooms for guests who want one, so say which you need when booking. Dogs are welcome in the lounges, the bar, the conservatory and the garden, but not in the main restaurant: guests eating with their dog are served in the conservatory instead. Dogs may also be left in the room while you eat, which is useful, though it does mean some barking from unattended dogs has been reported by other guests.
Owners rate the setup highly. Bowls, blankets and biscuits are often waiting in the room, there is a map of dog walks on arrival, a drying room for wet gear, and an exercise field directly across the road for the first and last walk of the day. Many of the dog owners here are repeat visitors who have been coming back for years, and staff are frequently praised for fussing over the dogs.
The caveats are worth taking seriously. The conservatory arrangement draws the most complaints: service there can be slow, and continental breakfast items sit in the restaurant some distance away, which is awkward if you are on your own with a dog. A small number of guests have found individual staff cool towards dogs at breakfast. Rooms can run hot with little way to cool them, and non-dog guests have noted wet dogs and dog hair in the lounges, which is the other side of a hotel this busy with dogs.
It suits walkers who want a traditional Lakeland hotel where the dog is part of the stay, and who will happily eat in the conservatory to keep it that way.
Highlights from pet-mentioning reviews
What reviewers travelling with dogs consistently noted about staying here.
- Dogs welcome in lounges, bar and conservatory
- Exercise field directly across the road
- Bowls, blankets and biscuits in the room
- Dog owners eat in the conservatory
- Conservatory service can be slow
- Rooms run warm in summer
About this hotel
The Borrowdale Hotel is a four-star Victorian country-house hotel in the Borrowdale Valley, a few miles south of Keswick near the head of Derwentwater. It has traditional lounges with open fires, a bar, a conservatory, a beer garden and a restaurant, with fell walks starting from the door.
Hotel facts
Photos
Location
Borrowdale, Keswick, CA12 5UY
