The Ruddings

The Ruddings earns a 5/5 paw rating from us, drawn from 21 confirmed pet-traveller reviews that read with unusual consistency: this is a hotel built around the idea that a dog is a welcome guest, not a problem to manage. The phrase "catering for dogs rather than tolerating them" comes up in different forms across multiple stays, which is rare enough that it deserves the highest rating we award.

Practically, that translates into a hotel where dogs come with their owners almost everywhere. The dining room and breakfast area both welcome pets at the table, so evening meals don't require trade-offs about who eats and who waits in the room. Breakfast tends to include a doggy sausage; reception keeps biscuits and small treats to hand. A purpose-built dog-cleaning porch with a shoe tray sits by the entrance, so paws muddy from a Cumbrian walk get sorted before they reach the carpet — a small detail that explains why so many guests note how clean the shared areas stay despite the number of dogs in residence.

Outside, a grass walkway runs along the back of the property with red waste bins in place, giving a clear toileting circuit that doesn't depend on heading back out to the lanes. The garden is not gated, which a couple of guests have flagged as the one practical friction — owners with dogs who'd otherwise be off-lead for a quick early-morning wee need to keep them on a long line. Otherwise the setup is unusually thoughtful: outdoor terrace seating, drinks served outside on warm afternoons, and a lake-and-fells outlook that suits a slower kind of trip.

Best suited to: dog-owners visiting the Lake District for walking, food, and a few quiet evenings rather than a high-tempo activity break. Small and medium dogs particularly well catered for. Less ideal if your dog is high-energy and needs unfenced off-lead space the moment they wake up — the garden's openness onto a road is the one place the otherwise dog-first design hasn't reached yet.