Dog-friendly Whitehaven

A drinking pub on Market Place in the middle of Whitehaven, two minutes from the harbour and on the line of the Coast to Coast walk. The pub's own site states that it welcomes well-behaved dogs into the whole pub, not just one room, which is unusual for a town-centre bar and makes it the easiest stop in Whitehaven if you are coming off the cliffs. It is a bar rather than a kitchen, so treat it as a drink stop rather than a meal, and there is step-free access from Market Place.

A harbourside pub on Marlborough Street just off the Strand, doing real ale and a full food menu including pizzas and a Sunday roast. Its own website states plainly that dogs are welcome in the bar, and stops there, so treat the restaurant side as closed to dogs unless staff say otherwise on the day. Because it sits within a minute of the West Strand car park it is the practical lunch stop after the harbour circuit.

A Lowther Street pub in the centre of Whitehaven doing homemade food, cask ale and live sport, a five-minute walk up from the harbour. Its own website lists Dog Friendly among the pub's facilities but does not say which rooms that covers, so ring ahead if you want to eat rather than drink. Step-free from the street and handy for the bus station and Bransty station.

A day-to-night cafe, bar and restaurant in the converted bus station on Bransty Row, a minute from Whitehaven station and the start of the walk north to Parton. Its own site says your dogs are welcome in the bar area, and does not extend that to the restaurant, so the bar is the place to sit. Food runs from breakfast at half past nine through to nine in the evening Wednesday to Saturday, with shorter hours on Monday and Tuesday.

The town's own short circuit: out along the West Pier to the little lighthouse at the harbour mouth, back round the Old Quay and the Sugar Tongue, then a pull up Wellington Terrace to the Candlestick, the tapered chimney of the old Wellington Pit that stands over the town. Underfoot it is pier stone, quayside setts and pavement, so it works in any weather and at any state of the tide, and the harbour rails mean a dog can be off the road the whole way along the water. Cumberland Council's PSPO puts no restriction on the harbour, the piers or the streets; the restrictions nearby are on the grass, not the quay. Finish down Duke Street and Lowther Street back to the Strand.

South out of the town on the England Coast Path, climbing from the Candlestick along the edge of Kells to the winding house at Haig Pit and then on above Saltom Bay, where the ruins of Saltom Pit sit on a shelf below the cliff. The path is wide grass and cinder track with the drop fenced most of the way, but the last section down to the Saltom shelf is steep and loose and is better done on a lead. Wind off the Irish Sea is the defining feature; there is no shelter and no water on the route, so carry some. Turn round at Saltom and come back the same way, or carry on to Sandwith.

The first leg of the Coast to Coast cycle route, on the trackbed of the old Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway. From Preston Street it climbs steadily but almost imperceptibly out of the Pow Beck valley past Mirehouse and Woodhouse, then runs through cuttings and open farmland to the village green at Moor Row. The surface is sealed tarmac the whole way, so it stays clean in winter and suits an older dog, but it is shared with cyclists doing the C2C and they come through fast in summer. Walk it as a linear and take the bus back from Moor Row, or turn at any point.

North from Bransty on the strip of shore and old railway formation squeezed between the Cumbrian Coast line and the sea, ending at the sea wall and the little beach at Parton. It is flat, wide and largely traffic-free, which makes it the easiest proper dog walk out of Whitehaven, and the shingle beaches along the way give a dog somewhere to get wet. The railway runs immediately inland of the path for most of the distance and is fenced but close, so this is not a route for a dog that will not recall. Come back the same way or take the train one stop from Parton.

The full day out from Whitehaven: up past the Candlestick and Haig, along the cliff above Saltom and Barrowmouth, past the old Birkhams sandstone quarry and round the two headlands of St Bees Head with the lighthouse at North Head, then down the long descent to the beach and village at St Bees. It is the biggest cliff walk on the Cumbrian coast and the drops are unfenced in places, so a lead near the edge is sensible. The fields on the landward side are grazed by sheep and cattle for most of the distance. Trains run back to Whitehaven from St Bees roughly every two hours.

A Grade I listed seventeenth-century house with walled gardens at Moresby, two miles north of Whitehaven and a mile inland of the Parton shore walk. The hotel's own site states that it is a dog-friendly hotel and that you can bring well-behaved dogs to stay, so dogs are taken in the bedrooms as well as the public rooms. Rooms start around one hundred pounds a night for a double, super king or twin, with four-poster rooms, a lodge and a studio apartment above that. There is a restaurant open for dinner every evening and Sunday lunch, and the grounds are large enough for a last walk before bed.