The Nelson Country House, Burnham Market

The Nelson is a village pub with rooms in the middle of Burnham Market, a few miles inland from the north Norfolk coast and its long tidal beaches. It is the sort of place where dogs sit under the tables in the bar rather than being ushered out of it, and dog owners who stay here describe a welcome that is matter-of-fact rather than fussed over.

Room allocation is the thing to get right. Several of the rooms are on the ground floor in an annex off the car park, and guests travelling with dogs consistently say those are the ones that work: straight out to the car park and the village without a staircase. Guests with dogs have also been put two flights up while ground-floor rooms sat empty below them, and it soured the stay. Ask for a ground-floor room when you book, and confirm it before you travel.

Size is the second thing. The rooms are clean and comfortable but not large, and couples arriving with two dogs have found the space tight. If you are bringing more than one dog, ask which room you have been given and how much floor space it has.

The location does a lot of the work. Burnham Market sits between Holkham and Brancaster, both of which have miles of dog-friendly sand, and the Norfolk Coast Path runs close by. The pub itself is the evening plan, with a proper bar, locals and their dogs in it, and a cooked breakfast in the morning.

The caveats are the ordinary ones for an old village inn. Other guests' dogs are audible and noticeable, sound carries between neighbouring rooms, and guest feedback has turned up mould around bathroom tiling that should have been dealt with sooner. At 4.4/5 this suits dog owners heading for the beaches who want a village pub at the end of the day, and who will ask for a ground-floor room.