Yorkshire Richmond
The Milbank Arms
Independent pet-friendly review by Four Legged Guests · updated October 2026 · paw rating built from 7 verified guest reviews mentioning pets
Bring your dog if
- You want a whole-property rental - no shared lobbies or corridors to navigate with your dog
- You're basing yourself in Richmond / the Yorkshire and want a pet-friendly anchor for day trips
- The wider guest experience is strong - guests rate this 9.6/10 overall on booking platforms
Worth knowing
- Pet fee: £20 per stay (max 2 pets) - research-verified; confirm at booking
- 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: 7 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 165 guest reviews overall across booking platforms, averaging 9.6/10 - 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
- Dogs are specifically listed as allowed. Not every pet-friendly property includes cats, so check directly if you are travelling with a non-canine pet.
- Pet fee: £20 per stay, not per dog.
- Up to two dogs per booking.
- Dogs are taken by prior arrangement, so say when you book that one is coming.
- More than two dogs can be considered, so ask before you book.
- Dogs are not allowed on the beds or the soft furnishings.
- Dogs need to be dry before they go into the bedroom areas.
- Dogs must not be left unattended in the rooms.
- Dog-friendly rooms: “Rooms 1 and 3, super king rooms above the pub” and “Reading Rooms 4 and 5, king rooms beside the pub with their own entrance”.
Pet-friendly summary
The Milbank Arms is a village pub with rooms in Barningham, on the edge of the Durham dales and a short drive from Scotch Corner, and it is the sort of place that treats a dog as part of the party rather than something to be managed. Dogs sit with their owners in the bar for both dinner and breakfast, which is the single thing that separates a genuinely dog-friendly pub from one that merely permits dogs in the room.
The welcome runs further than that. A dog bed and treats are put out in the room, staff are repeatedly described as dog people, and the pub will allocate a ground-floor bedroom where a dog cannot manage stairs, which is worth asking about at the time of booking if you have an older or arthritic dog. Two dogs are accepted as standard and the pub will consider more if you ask before you book.
The charge is the one thing to budget for, and the basis of it matters. It is £20 per stay rather than per dog, so a party with two dogs pays the same as a party with one, and it is applied regardless of how little mess is actually made - guests who brought their own dog beds have still found it steep for a single-night stopover. Dogs are taken by prior arrangement rather than turning up unannounced, so mention the dog when you reserve.
Barningham itself is a quiet, pretty village with open countryside on the doorstep, so walks start where you park. The food is the other draw, with a strong local reputation, and booking a table for dinner is advised rather than optional.
Two smaller caveats. Some of the rooms are compact and can run hot, and at least one has a high bed that needs a step to get into and is only approachable from one side, worth flagging if anyone in the party has limited mobility. Ask about the room layout when you book.
For dog owners breaking a journey north, or wanting a proper pub weekend with the dog under the table, The Milbank Arms earns a 4.6/5 paw rating.
Highlights from pet-mentioning reviews
What reviewers travelling with dogs consistently noted about staying here.
- Dogs welcome at the table for dinner
- Ground-floor room for dogs avoiding stairs
- Dog bed and treats left in the room
- Twenty pound dog charge per stay, not per dog
- Countryside walks straight from the village
About this hotel
The Milbank Arms is a village pub with rooms at Barningham, near Barnard Castle and a short drive from Scotch Corner. It offers a handful of bedrooms above a well-regarded kitchen, with open countryside on the doorstep. Guest scores average 9.6 out of 10 across 165 reviews.
Hotel facts
Photos
Location
Barningham, Richmond, DL11 7DW
