Dog-friendly Westward Ho and around

Pub NOT CHECKED YET

Country Cousins Restaurant and Bar

EX39 1LL

NOT CHECKED YET · IS THIS YOURS? VIEW ›

Country Cousins Restaurant and Bar is a pub on Westbourne Terrace, Westward Ho!. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

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Cottages you can book near Westward Ho

Real dog-welcoming cottages from our booking partner holidaycottages.co.uk — live prices, booked on their site. Booking through these links supports Wagfinder and never changes the price you pay.

Tregenver Dairy Cornwall · dogs welcome 7 nights from £354

Plumtree Cottage Devon · dogs welcome 7 nights from £384

Bilberry Cottage Devon · dogs welcome 7 nights from £384

Quayside View Devon · dogs welcome 7 nights from £392

Dipple Dairy Cottage Devon · dogs welcome 7 nights from £392

Ashford Holt Cottage Devon · dogs welcome 7 nights from £403

Crab Apple Cottage Devon · dogs welcome 7 nights from £415

Annas Cottage Devon · dogs welcome 7 nights from £417

The Linney Devon · dogs welcome 7 nights from £417

Elderberry Cottage Devon · dogs welcome 7 nights from £428

Restaurants & cafés · 2 All restaurants & cafés in Westward Ho →

Restaurant NOT CHECKED YET

Country Cousins Carvery

EX39 1LL

NOT CHECKED YET · IS THIS YOURS? VIEW ›

Country Cousins Carvery is a place to eat on Westbourne Terrace, Westward Ho!. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Restaurant NOT CHECKED YET

The Coffee Container

NOT CHECKED YET · IS THIS YOURS? VIEW ›

The Coffee Container is a place to eat in Westward Ho!. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Missing a place?

Know a Westward Ho pub, cafe or place to stay that lets dogs in? Tell us and we will go and check it.

ADD A PLACE

Also within 10 miles · 367

3.5 MI · LOOP

Northam Burrows and the Pebble Ridge

Northam

3.5MILES

1:30TIME

15mCLIMB

95%OFF-ROAD

Livestock — leads on

A flat 3.5 miles round the grassy coastal plain at the mouth of the Taw and Torridge, an hour and a half on turf, sandy track and the great cobble bank of the Pebble Ridge, with essentially no climbing. Start at the country park car park off Sandymere Road, where vehicles are restricted but pedestrians can walk in at any time, and the Burrows Centre and toilets sit near the entrance; Westward Ho! is a ten-minute walk along the ridge if you want a beach and a chip shop at the end. Horses and sheep graze about half the park so a lead is the honest answer for most of the route, the Skern mudflats at the Appledore end are a major bird roost that dogs must stay off between 1 October and 31 March, and there is no fresh water for a dog anywhere on the Burrows.

Beach 2.4 mi SOME LIMITS Dogs OK today · ban JUL

Instow Sands

Instow

Sheltered estuary sand where the Taw and Torridge meet, with the Tarka Trail running behind it. What operates here is a parish Beach Code of Conduct rather than a legal ban: walkers are asked to keep off the stretch between the Quay and the Boathouse during the middle of the day in high summer, and to lead dogs on the upper beach there. The rest of the beach is open all year.

Restaurant 2.6 mi SOME LIMITS

The Boathouse

Instow · EX39 4JJ

A seafood restaurant on the front at Instow, looking across the Torridge to Appledore. Dogs are welcome in the bar and on the Top Deck with plenty of treats, but not in the main dining room, so ask for one of those two when you book.

In the bar Treats

Beach 5.3 mi SOME LIMITS Dogs all year

Saunton Sands

Saunton

Three and a half miles of sand backed by the Braunton Burrows dunes, privately managed by Christie Estates. Dogs are allowed all year, unusually for a beach this size, but must be on leads in front of the beach huts; parts of the Burrows behind carry seasonal lead requirements of their own under the district order.

Pub 5.5 mi SOME LIMITS

The Williams Arms

Braunton · EX33 2DE

A large roadside carvery pub on Wrafton Road at the Braunton end of the Taw estuary, handy for Saunton Sands and the Tarka Trail. Dogs are welcome in the big family bar area and outside, and no booking is needed to bring one.

In the bar

Off-lead allowed Livestock — leads on

4.5 MI · LOOP

DOGS WELCOME

Baggy Point headland circuit

Croyde · EX33 1FF

4.5MILES

2:30TIME

180mCLIMB

90%OFF-ROAD

Four and a half miles round the windswept headland between Croyde and Putsborough, about two and a half hours with 180 metres of climbing, two gentle pulls and a stony narrow path along the north side. Start at the National Trust car park at the end of Moor Lane in Croyde, free to members and paid otherwise, and the busiest small car park in North Devon by nine on a surf morning. Dogs run free on the old fields along the top and there is a stream at Putsborough, but the drops on the seaward side are severe with no fence, seabirds nest on the cliffs from spring, and the crumbling walls hide sheep in the fields at the Croyde end.

4.5 MI · LOOP

Off-lead allowed Livestock — leads on

Croyde and Saunton Down

Croyde · EX33 1FF

4.5MILES

2:30TIME

250mCLIMB

80%OFF-ROAD

A bracing 4.5 miles of about two and a half hours, weaving up old lanes to the top of Saunton Down for the three-mile view over Saunton Sands, then round the low cliffs at Down End and back across Croyde Beach, with 250 metres of climbing on narrow stony paths and steps. Start at the National Trust car park above Croyde, which is the only large car park in the village and is emptied of spaces early all summer; the number 21 bus from Barnstaple stops on the main street. The sting is in the tail: Croyde beach is closed to dogs from 1 May to 30 September under the North Devon Council order with a GBP 100 fixed penalty, so in season finish along the lane instead, while Saunton Sands at the far end of the walk stays open to dogs with miles of firm sand.

Beach 6.0 mi SOME LIMITS No dogs today · back OCT

Croyde Bay

Croyde

North Devon's best-known surf beach, and one of the few beaches in the district covered by a formal Public Spaces Protection Order rather than a landowner's rules. Dogs are banned outright from the bay for the season and must be on a lead in the dunes behind it; breach carries a fixed penalty of one hundred pounds. Baggy Point and the coast path above stay open.

Pub 6.1 mi SOME LIMITS

The Thatch

Croyde · EX33 1LZ

The surf village's landmark pub, thatched and heaving through August. Dogs are allowed inside but only at designated dog-friendly tables, which have to be booked by phone or email rather than walked into, so ring ahead in season. Useful to know when the beach itself is closed to dogs from May.

In the bar

Beach 7.5 mi SOME LIMITS No dogs today · back OCT

Putsborough Sands

Putsborough

The southern, sheltered end of the same three-mile bay as Woolacombe, with its own private car park above the sand. Like Woolacombe it works on zones: the area south of the steps is closed to dogs from April to the end of September, while Zone C further along is open to them.

2.9 MI · LINEAR — PLAN THE RETURN

Tarka Trail: Barnstaple to Ashford

Barnstaple · EX31 2AU

2.9MILES

1:00TIME

20mCLIMB

95%OFF-ROAD

An easy 2.9 miles one way along the Taw estuary on a level tarmac path, an hour at an amble past saltmarsh and small rocky beaches to the Tarka Inn at Ashford, with almost no climbing at all. Start at Barnstaple station, which has the branch line from Exeter and a pay-and-display car park, and come back on the frequent Braunton bus from Ashford rather than retracing your steps. This is the sensible wet-weather and elderly-dog walk of North Devon, entirely traffic free and puddle flat, but note that the estuary mudflats are high tide roosts for overwintering birds and the council order bans dogs from land used as a roost between 1 October and 31 March, so keep to the trail and out of the saltmarsh in winter.

11.6 MI · OUT & BACK

Taw and Torridge estuary long day

Barnstaple · EX31 2AU

11.6MILES

5:00TIME

40mCLIMB

93%OFF-ROAD

Water bowls

A big flat day of 11.6 miles, five hours or so, out along the old Bideford railway line to Fremington Quay and Yelland and down to the sands at Instow, then back the same way, with barely 40 metres of climbing on tarmac trail throughout. Start at Barnstaple station, cross the Long Bridge and pick up the Tarka Trail on the south bank; the 21 and 21A buses shadow the route so you can shorten it to a one-way walk at Fremington or Instow whenever the dog has had enough. It is a superb distance walk for a fit dog with no stiles and no livestock, water at the Fremington Quay café and Instow beach at the far end, but there is nowhere shaded on a hot day and the winter high tide roosts along the estuary are closed to dogs from 1 October to 31 March.

Beach 9.0 mi SOME LIMITS No dogs today · back OCT

Woolacombe Sands

Woolacombe

Three miles of west-facing sand, privately owned by Parkin Estates rather than the council, and divided into three lettered zones for dogs. The village end is closed to dogs from the start of April, the middle section is lead-only, and everything from Mill Rock south is unrestricted, which is where to head if you want a run. Restrictions apply between nine in the morning and six in the evening.

5 MI · OUT & BACK

Woolacombe Sands to Putsborough and the Warren

Woolacombe

5MILES

1:45TIME

60mCLIMB

92%OFF-ROAD

Five miles of the easiest and biggest beach walking in Devon, an hour and three quarters down two miles of firm sand to Putsborough and back over the marram dunes of Woolacombe Warren, essentially flat with 60 metres of climbing. Park on the Esplanade or in the big Marine Drive car parks, both paid and both owned by the estate that owns the beach, and get there before ten on a hot day or join the queue on the hill. The dog rules here are set by the estate rather than the council and change as you walk: no dogs at all on the north end of the beach from 1 April, dogs on leads from the stream as far as Mill Rock from 1 May, and free running south of Mill Rock all year, which is exactly the stretch this walk uses, with a stream at either end to drink from.