Dog-friendly Tiverton

Two and a half miles of flat waymarked walking from the canal basin at Tiverton along the resurfaced towpath, then back by a quiet lane and a woodland track, an hour and a quarter with almost no climbing and limekilns, bridges and milestones to look at on the way. Start at the Canal Basin on Canal Hill, where the pay-and-display car park has toilets, a tea room and horse-drawn barge trips in season; the whole eleven and a quarter mile towpath is a public right of way if you want more. Dogs are permitted throughout the country park and the canal gives them water at every bridge, but they must be kept under control at all times and out of the adjacent farmland, one field on the loop carries livestock, and failing to clear up carries a fine of up to a thousand pounds.

A 1.2-mile waymarked loop of the parkland at Knightshayes, twenty-five to forty-five minutes with 60 metres of climbing and a few steep and uneven stretches through specimen trees and open pasture above the Exe valley. Start on the Stables lawn by the café and follow the dog-walk waymarks; the estate is a mile north of Tiverton off the A396 with a large car park, free to National Trust members and included in admission otherwise. This is the designated route for dogs on the estate, so it avoids the formal garden where dogs are restricted, there is a water bowl at the stables, and the only real hazards are the sheep that graze parts of the park and the drive traffic at the start.