Dog-friendly The Cumbrian Coast

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.

The village pub at Sandwith, two miles south of Whitehaven and directly on the Coast to Coast walk, which makes it the first pub most walkers pass after leaving St Bees. It serves food and has a beer garden. Its own website lists Pet Friendly among the amenities but does not say which rooms that covers, so ask at the bar before settling in the dining area. Parking is on the village street outside.

A harbour pub on Shipping Brow at the bottom of the town, a minute from Elizabeth Dock and the start of the Flimby shore walk. It does British pub food and a Sunday carvery, with outdoor seating on the brow. Its own website lists the pub as pet friendly but does not say which rooms that covers, and the food is served on a separate upper floor, so ask at the bar before going up with a dog.

A village pub and restaurant at Dean, about five miles inland of Workington on the road towards Cockermouth, doing a full brasserie menu and a Cumbrian three-meat Sunday roast from around nineteen pounds. Its own site lists the pub as dog friendly but does not name the rooms that covers, so ask when you arrive if you intend to eat. It is the nearest pub to Workington with a published dog policy on its own website.

A village pub and restaurant at Crosby, two miles east of Maryport on the road towards Aspatria, doing generous British pub food and keeping a beer garden. It is one of the few pubs in the Maryport area that also lets rooms. Its own website lists both Pet Friendly and Accommodation among the amenities but does not say whether dogs are taken in the bedrooms, so that has to be confirmed when booking.

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.

An all-day cafe bar on Steelman's Walk in the middle of Workington, open from nine in the morning until eleven at night and midnight at weekends. The operator's own site lists the site as dog friendly without restricting it to one area, which makes it the most reliable indoor stop in the town for anyone walking a dog. Food runs all day, from breakfast through burgers, mezze bowls and toasties, and there is table service so you are not leaving a dog to queue at a counter.

The cafe on South Quay at the aquarium, opening from nine in the morning and serving coffee, scones and hot meals with vegan and gluten-free options, looking out over Maryport harbour. The aquarium's own site states that well behaved dogs are welcome in the cafe and gift shop and that only guide dogs are allowed into the aquarium exhibits, which is a clear line and worth knowing before you buy a ticket. Outdoor picnic tables under umbrellas seat sixty-odd, which is where most people with dogs end up on a warm day.

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.

Five and a half miles and a little over two hours with almost no climb at all, north along the Solway shore from Allonby's green to the rocky scar at Dubmill Point and back on the coast path behind the shingle bank. It starts on the green at Allonby, where parking is free along the front and by the old baths, and the walk needs no gates or stiles from end to end. This is a big empty beach walk with the Galloway hills across the firth, and the sand is firm enough to run a dog on for miles, but the shore is grazed in places by cattle brought down to the marsh, Dubmill Point is a fast-tide corner where the road floods on spring tides, and the promenade is covered by a Cumberland Council dog control order - check the signs on the day.

The hill that stands over the whole of the Millom peninsula, climbed by the old pony track from St Mary's Church at Whicham, half a mile inland of Silecroft station. It is a long steady pull on grass with no scrambling and no crags on this side, and from the trig point you look down the Duddon, along the Cumbrian coast and out to the Isle of Man on a clear day. The whole summit dome is registered open access land grazed by sheep all year, so this is a lead walk in practice for most of the ascent. There is no water on the route above the intake wall.

Up from the little marina at Harrington through the streets to the nature reserve on Moorclose Road, round the two flower meadows, the Ellerbeck and the reservoir that locals call the Rezzer, then back down to the harbour and the sea wall. The reserve path is even and wheel-friendly and takes twenty minutes on its own; joined to the harbour it makes a proper short walk. Kingfishers use the beck and there are toads and dragonflies on the reservoir, which is why the council designates the reserve a dogs-on-lead area. Parking is a layby by the reserve entrance or the harbour itself.

Out along the sand west from the Haverigg beach car park with Black Combe filling the view inland, then back through the marram dunes and along the Haverigg pool into the village. At low water the sand is firm and enormous and a dog can run for a mile without meeting a road; at high water the walk is on the dune paths instead, which are soft going. There is no seasonal dog ban on this beach. The play area at Haverigg is the one place on the route dogs may not go.

A circuit of the lagoon at RSPB Hodbarrow, the flooded pit of the old Hodbarrow iron mine, held back from the Duddon by a massive outer sea barrier. The main path in from the Mainsgate Road car park is rolled stone, firm and wide enough for a wheelchair, and runs a mile and a half to the hide; beyond that the barrier gives an open walk to the lighthouse with the estuary on one side and the lagoon on the other. Terns, ringed plovers and oystercatchers breed on the shingle here and natterjack toads use the pools, which is why the RSPB requires leads throughout. There are no toilets on site, the nearest being a mile away at Haverigg.

North along the promenade from the sea wall car park onto the grassland of the coastal park at Bank End, then back on the inland path below the Roman fort site. It is short, open and entirely on made surfaces and grass, with the Solway on one side and Criffel across the water, and it is where most of Maryport walks its dogs. The seaward grass is unfenced above a shingle shore, so a dog can get down to the water at several points. Cumberland Council designates Land at Ennerdale Road, at the southern end, as both a dogs-on-lead and a dog exclusion area, so read the signs before crossing the grass there.

A small touring site tucked between Elizabeth Dock and the marina on Marine Road, five minutes on foot from the town centre and a short walk from the shingle beach. The operator's own site describes it plainly as a dog friendly site. There are twenty-eight hard-standing pitches with electric hook-up and three camping pods, with an amenity block including a disabled and family wet room. It is the closest bed of any kind to the Maryport shore walks, and the promenade dog walk starts at the end of the road.

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.

A small independent aquarium on Maryport harbourside, with a cafe, a tackle shop and crazy golf outside, and it is genuinely a wet-day option. Well-behaved dogs are welcome in the cafe and the gift shop, but only guide dogs may go into the aquarium exhibits.