Dog-friendly Carlisle

Greene King house just north of the city centre, open from ten in the morning, which makes it one of the earlier doors in Carlisle for a dog and a coffee. Its own dog-friendly page states that all are welcome at the Apple Tree, with a water bowl always available and treats from the staff, and sets out no room restriction. Food is the standard chain menu and tables are bookable, which matters at weekends.

A large Greene King food pub on Warwick Road on the east side of the city, with a big garden and the sport on. The pub's own dog-friendly page states that all are welcome at the Beehive, that there is a bowl of water waiting and the odd treat from the staff, with no restriction to particular rooms and no mention of a garden-only rule. It is a straightforward stop after a walk on the Eden rather than anywhere characterful, and the garden is the better bet in summer.

On Court Square opposite the citadel towers and the station, so this is the one to know if you have come off a train with a dog. Greene King's own dog-friendly page for the pub states that all are welcome at the Griffin and that a water bowl and the odd treat are kept for dogs, with no room restriction given. Open until midnight, and it gets loud when there is football or rugby on the screens.

The all-day cafe and bar at the front of the Halston on Warwick Road, a couple of minutes from the station and the citadel. Dogs are allowed in here with their owners, which is useful because the Halston's other room, the Penny Blue restaurant, is stated to be for humans only. Leads are required anywhere in the hotel's public areas and grounds. If you are staying, dogs cannot be left in the apartment unaccompanied, so Bartons Yard is where the dog goes while you eat.

The cathedral's cafe occupies the restored Fratry building in the precinct off Castle Street, with seating on the ground floor, upstairs in the Fratry Hall, down in the medieval Undercroft and outside in the close. Dogs are allowed in the Fratry Hall, the Undercroft and the outside seating, but not on the ground floor, so ask which room you are being shown to before you sit down. It is a short lead throughout and one dog per adult, the same rule as the cathedral itself. A water bowl is kept opposite the main cathedral door a few yards away.

The city's standard dog circuit: out of the Bitts Park car park on Dacre Road behind the castle, east along the Eden past the bowling greens, over the Memorial suspension bridge into Rickerby Park, a loop of the park to the obelisk and back down the north bank to Eden Bridge. Rickerby Park is grazed, so there is stock on the grass most of the year and the field gates matter more than the map does. The return leg runs west through Bitts Park to the Sheepmount athletics ground, where the Hadrian's Wall Path carries on along the river. Cumberland Council's PSPO puts no lead requirement on either park, but it does exclude dogs from the fenced play area and skate park, which sit right on the line of the walk.

Open parkland off Wigton Road on the west side of the city, laid out over medieval ridge and furrow that still shows in low sun. A network of surfaced paths links the restored Georgian Garden, the Manor grounds with their old trees and rebuilt ha-ha, a hay meadow that is cut once a year, and football pitches. It is a good short-legged or elderly-dog walk: nothing steep, everything surfaced, and a free car park at the community centre. Cumberland Council states no lead requirement and no exclusion here, only the duty to clear up, which carries a fine up to £1,000.

A short, flat suburban circuit round the old claypit boating pond off Blackwell Road and out through the grass of Upperby Park, which is what south Carlisle actually walks its dogs on before work. The perimeter path round the water is tarmac and pushchair-flat; the park end is mown grass with mature trees, and Cumberland Council has been planting 300 more of them under the Start with the Park scheme. The pond holds ducks and swans all year, so this is not a place to let a bird-minded dog swim. The new skate park and the fenced play area are both dog-free ground.

Two council-run woodland reserves either side of Kingmoor Road on the north edge of the city, joined by the old railway cycleway, and the nearest thing Carlisle has to a proper woodland walk without driving. The southern reserve has a short surfaced accessible loop from the Kingmoor Road car park and then a network of unsurfaced, uneven paths through mixed woodland; the northern reserve is quieter, with benches and the cycleway running the length of it. There is no lead requirement and no exclusion here - the council's only stated dog rule is fouling, and it is a criminal offence not to clean up after your dog, with a fine up to £1,000. Ground gets soft between the two reserves after rain.

Apartment hotel in the old post office building at 20 to 34 Warwick Road, five minutes from the citadel and the station. Dog-friendly apartments exist but are held back for prior request only, so book them by phone or email rather than assuming, and each is set aside for one dog. The charge is £18 per dog per night, settled on arrival. Dogs must be on a lead in the public areas and grounds and cannot be left alone in the apartment, so plan meals around Bartons Yard rather than the Penny Blue restaurant, which does not take dogs.

Since 25 November 2023 the cathedral has admitted dogs to the main building as well as the grounds, which makes it one of the few indoor wet-weather stops in the city you can take a dog into. A water bowl is kept opposite the main door. The rule is one dog per adult, on a short lead, and it does not extend to services, to the tours that go above ground level, or to the Treasury. Guide, therapy and assistance dogs were already admitted and are unaffected.