Dog-friendly Bassenthwaite

A two-hundred-year-old coaching inn in woodland at the foot of Sale Fell, and one of the more openly dog-minded inns in the north Lakes. Dogs sit in the designated areas of the pub and restaurant, where water bowls and treats are kept, and stay in the dog-friendly rooms; the classic doubles are not among them, so book carefully.

The village pub at The Rake in Bassenthwaite village, on the quiet side of the fells between Skiddaw and the lake and a couple of miles off the A591. Its own website states plainly that it is dog friendly, without setting out any areas that are off limits. It is the nearest pub to the Ullock Pike ridge and to the Sale Fell and Wythop paths, and one of the few places in the village to get a meal.

Three miles and a steep 400 metres of climbing on forest roads and footpaths from the Old Sawmill car park opposite Mirehouse, up through Sitka and larch to the bare cone of Dodd at 502 metres. The summit is out of the trees and looks down the length of Bassenthwaite Lake to the Solway and across to Skiddaw's western flank. Forestry England grade the green-waymarked route hard, and the upper zigzags are loose in places. The Lake District Osprey Project viewpoints are signed off the lower forest roads, and the Old Sawmill tea room sits at the foot of the hill.

Five miles and 320 metres of climb, about two and a half hours: a grassy round of Sale Fell and Lothwaite above the Wythop valley, with the whole length of Bassenthwaite Lake laid out below and Skiddaw behind it. Start from the roadside parking by the old church at Wythop, off the lane between Embleton and Routenbeck - space for perhaps fifteen cars and no charge, but the lane is narrow and blocking gateways causes real trouble for the farms. The fell is all short cropped grass with no rock and no stiles, which makes it easy going for any dog, but it is common grazing with sheep on it every month of the year, there is no water on top at all, and the lower plantation is worked forestry.

A country house in four hundred acres of woodland above Bassenthwaite Lake, with a spa, a wildlife park next door and a doggy hairdryer for rain-soaked arrivals. Dogs stay in ground-floor rooms opening onto the patio and garden, and may sit with you in the Hall Lounge between 10am and 7pm, but not in the other public rooms or the spa.

A spa hotel at the crossroads of the A591 and B5291 at the northern end of Bassenthwaite Lake, a mile from the Ouse Bridge shore and within reach of Sale Fell and the Wythop valley. Dogs are only taken in the four designated dog-friendly room types, a maximum of two per room, and the hotel is explicit that the rest of its bedrooms are not suitable for pets, so a dog room has to be booked rather than added on arrival. Some of those rooms open straight onto the private gardens.

A family-run historic house on the A591 with grounds running down to the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake, opposite the Dodd Wood car park and the Old Sawmill. The interest for a dog is the grounds rather than the house: a walled bee garden, the Poetry Walk through the woods and a path out to the lake shore and St Bega's church. Dogs are welcome in the grounds on a short lead but are kept out of the four adventure playgrounds, and the walks cross working farmland with stock in the fields. It is open April to October only.