The Coach House Inn, South Luffenham

The Coach House Inn is a village pub with rooms at South Luffenham in Rutland, a short drive from Rutland Water, and dogs are explicitly part of the deal here rather than an exception made grudgingly. The booking listing names dogs as allowed, the team make a visible fuss of them on arrival, and the inn keeps a resident dog of its own who has been known to escort guests around the village.

What lifts it above a routine dog-friendly pub stop is the food. The menu is deliberately short and cooked properly, the beer is well kept, and the breakfast draws more praise than anything else about the place. Rooms are a decent size and comfortable, and the welcome is warm without being performed, with guests repeatedly describing being made to feel at home rather than processed.

Rutland Water is the reason most dog owners come. The reservoir has a surfaced perimeter track running to over twenty miles, with shorter loops off it, meadows and woodland, and it is one of the better places in the East Midlands to give a dog a proper long walk. Stamford is a short drive the other way, and the inn also serves as a base for events around Rutland.

The building is old and that has consequences. The stairs are steep and there is no lift, and rooms booked through third-party listings are automatically allocated at the top of the building, which is a hard climb with an elderly or heavy dog and hot in summer, with a fan provided that does not fully solve it. Ring the inn directly before you travel and ask for a lower floor; the team are described as accommodating enough to help where they can.

Best suited to dog owners heading for Rutland Water who want good food and a proper welcome at the end of a long walk, and who will make one phone call to get the right room.