Dog-friendly Blackmore Vale & the Downs

Palmers pub on Beaminster's square, a plain and friendly local with a beer garden and a skittle alley. Listed by the brewery as dog friendly, with outside dining. Handy for the walk up to Lewesdon Hill and Beaminster Down.

Sixteenth-century coaching inn in Evershot, Hardy's Evershead, with flagstones, a skittle alley and rooms upstairs. Pets are welcome by prior arrangement at £15 per pet per night but are not permitted in the restaurant, so eat in the bar. Bookings must flag the dog in advance.

Village pub at Shroton under the ramparts of Hambledon Hill, one of the great chalk hill forts, with the pitch alongside. Well-behaved dogs are welcome in the bar area. The circuit of the hill from the village is the reason most walkers turn up.

Characterful pub on Blandford's Market Place, sport on the screens and a warm welcome for four-legged friends in its own words. A town-centre local rather than a dining pub, in the handsomest Georgian market square in Dorset. Good stop off the Stour valley walks.

Rebuilt Georgian coaching inn on the Commons in the middle of Shaftesbury, with sixteen rooms and a serious kitchen. Dogs are welcome in the bar, where the full menu is served, the conservatory, the terrace and every one of the bedrooms, but not in the restaurant; the charge is £20 per dog per stay. Dogs must not be left alone in the room unless crated.

Big stone pub on Half Moon Street facing Sherborne Abbey, with a courtyard and a proper front bar. Dogs are welcomed in the bar area, where there are treats and water bowls, but not the rest of the house. Central, and the abbey close is a two-minute walk.

A 4.2-mile two-hour figure round the Brit valley, out of the square past the church, up over the shoulder of Horn Hill for the view down on the town, then along the river to Netherbury and back by field paths. Around 170 metres of climb on grass field paths, sunken lanes and half a mile of quiet tarmac, with a good number of gates and two stiles a heavy dog will need help over. Park in the free Fleet Street or Yarn Barton car parks in Beaminster, both small and both within two minutes of the square. Sheep and cattle graze the valley fields so leads through the stock, and the Brit is shallow, clean and easy to get into for a drink most of the way.

A 2.8-mile hour-and-a-half loop over the double summit of the wooded hill that rises out of Blackmore Vale, 230 acres of ancient small-leaved lime coppice with bluebells in May and long views west from the clearings. The main east to west track is stoned but steep near the entrance gate, and the side paths are grass, wet and genuinely muddy in winter. Start from the free Woodland Trust car park off New Lane three miles west of Shaftesbury, room for about twenty-five cars, with a two-metre height barrier at the entrance that rules out high vans. Dogs are welcome in Woodland Trust woods and this one is unfenced from any road, which makes it good off-lead ground; roe deer are everywhere, so recall matters.

A 2.4-mile hour-and-a-quarter circuit of a hilltop town, down the cobbles of Gold Hill, round the base of the greensand escarpment through St James, and back up to the abbey terrace and Castle Hill for a fifty-mile view over Blackmore Vale. Steep in both directions with 130 metres of climb, cobbles and steps that punish paws and knees alike. Start at the Bell Street or Coppice Street pay and display, both a couple of minutes from Park Walk; the town is on the bus route from Salisbury and Blandford. Leads for the cobbles and the terrace, where the drop is unfenced in places, and note that dogs must be on leads in public gardens under the Dorset order. There is a water bowl at several of the High Street cafés.

A 3.2-mile hour-and-three-quarter climb of the finest iron age hillfort silhouette in Dorset, 200 metres of ascent up a rugged path from the village onto a national nature reserve of terraced ramparts and chalk grassland. Steep, uneven and slippery in the wet, with the spur walk north along the ridge worth the extra half mile. Park in the lay-by south-east of Child Okeford village, which takes only a few cars, so the village hall or on-street in the village is the fallback, with a walk of five minutes to the gate. The reserve is grazed by cattle and sheep to keep the flowers, so a lead is needed throughout, and the rampart ditches are deep and steep-sided with no water anywhere on the hill.

A 3.4-mile two-hour circuit from the village up onto the flat-topped hillfort the Roman army built a camp inside, then down to the Stour and back along the river. Around 150 metres of climb on a chalky track, easy going, though the field paths by the river are heavy after rain. Start from the free village car park behind the White Horse in Stourpaine, only a dozen spaces or so, with careful on-street parking as the alternative. Cattle graze the fort plateau most of the year so leads up there, and the Stour at the bottom gives a proper deep swim for a dog that wants one, with a shallow gravel entry below the bridge rather than the steep banks upstream.

A short, steep 2.6-mile round of an hour and a half up the highest hill in Dorset at 279 metres, through beech hangers to a wooded iron age enclosure on the summit with glimpsed views to the sea. About 180 metres of climb, on holloway, root-laced woodland path and a slippery greensand pull that is hard work in the wet. Start at the small National Trust car park on the lane between Broadwindsor and Stoke Abbott, free, with room for perhaps a dozen cars and no overflow at all. Sheep graze the fields below the wood so leads on the approach, the summit wood itself is unfenced from any road and good for a run, and there is no water on the hill.

Farmhouse hotel and restaurant in the Winterborne valley south of Blandford, all reclaimed timber and kitchen garden. Well-behaved dogs are welcome, but must stay within the grounds: the surrounding fields belong to the working farm and are private. Ask about which rooms take dogs when you book.

Hall and Woodhouse's Georgian hotel by the Stour bridge in Blandford, with a garden running down to the river. Dog-friendly rooms mean there is no need to leave a dog at home, and the team will bring a bowl of water or a treat. Ring ahead if you are bringing a dog so a suitable room is allocated.

Georgian townhouse hotel and spa on Long Street with a walled garden, the smartest bed in Sherborne. Nine of the bedrooms are dog-friendly and come with a dog bed, bowls, treats, a toy and a welcome letter for the dog; the charge is £25 per dog per stay. Ring reception rather than booking online so the right room is held.

Boutique hotel, spa and restaurant on the edge of Sherborne, a walk from the abbey and the two castles. Dogs are welcome throughout the hotel and the lounges, and designated dog-friendly bedrooms must be requested when booking. Some spaces may be restricted at peak dining times.

The excavated footprint of the Benedictine abbey founded by Alfred the Great, now a walled garden of herbs and orchard on the hilltop above Gold Hill. Dogs on leads are welcome, and there is a gift shop and refreshments. Small site, twenty minutes to half an hour unless you sit in the garden.

Sir Walter Raleigh's Elizabethan house with a Capability Brown lake and thirty acres of pleasure grounds, and the ruins of the older castle across the water. Dogs are welcome but must be kept on a short lead at all times, with waste bagged and put in the garden bins. The lakeside circuit is the walk to do.