The Partridge, Stretton

The Partridge is an inn with rooms just off the M6 at Stretton, and it has quietly become one of the better dog-friendly stopovers in Cheshire for anyone driving north to the Lakes or west into Wales. The bedrooms are all on the ground floor, which makes getting in and out with a dog, a lead and a bootful of luggage far easier than it is at most hotels. It earns a 4.6/5 paw rating.

Dogs cost £10 per dog, per night, and there is no size limit, which is genuinely useful: guests arriving with two large dogs report plenty of room for them without the bedroom feeling crowded. Most of the bedrooms are dog-friendly, food and water bowls are provided, and dogs are welcome out on the terrace. They must not be left alone in the room, so this is a stopover for people who plan to eat on site rather than head out for the evening.

The welcome is what comes up most. Staff are repeatedly described as going out of their way for the dogs rather than merely tolerating them, and that runs consistently across a large number of stays. The food is a step above standard pub cooking, the breakfast menu has range, and the building and its grounds are a good deal more attractive than a motorway stopover has any right to be.

The one real drawback is walking. The property sits a couple of minutes from the motorway and is hemmed in by main roads, so there is no quiet route straight from the door: you get the grounds for a last-thing-at-night circuit, and a nature reserve a short drive away for anything longer. Room-only rates strike some guests as steep for what is essentially an overnight, and service can be brisk at busy times. As a place to break a long drive with a dog of any size, though, it is hard to fault.