Dog-friendly Herriot Country

Cosy country pub on Sowerby's handsome tree-lined Front Street, a few minutes from the Flatts. Dogs on leads are welcome in the bar and the flower-filled beer garden, and treats are usually on hand. Pairs naturally with a riverside loop along Cod Beck.

Family-run free house at the Bullamoor crossroads on the eastern edge of Northallerton, with home-cooked food Wednesday to Sunday. The pub states plainly that it is dog friendly, and its country setting makes it a natural finish to a lane walk with views towards the Hambleton Hills. Kitchen hours are limited early in the week, so check before setting out.

A micropub in Garthway Arcade just off the High Street, all shared tables, cask ale and conversation with the beer range chalked up on the wall. Dogs are listed as welcome and the room is small enough that yours will make friends whether it wants to or not. Closed Mondays and opens late afternoon.

Large refurbished dining inn on Long Street in Topcliffe, close to the village's old bridge over the River Swale, with sixteen bedrooms, a garden and patio. Dogs are welcome in the bar area only, which suits a drink or bar meal after a Swale-side stroll. The restaurant side is dog-free.

Traditional family-run free house facing Crakehall's broad village green, with real ale, home-cooked food and a garden. The inn's own line is simple: good-mannered dogs welcome. Closed Tuesdays and evenings-only on Mondays, so time your visit accordingly.

A Market Place pub at the eastern corner of the square with a beer garden behind, listed by Thirsk Tourist Information as simply dogs welcome. Dogs come inside as well as into the garden, and the staff are used to them. One of the easiest stops in the town centre with a dog in tow.

A small independent cafe on the southern side of Thirsk Market Place, doing coffee, cake and cooked breakfasts from mid-morning. It is listed as dog friendly, so dogs are welcome inside with you. Closed on Mondays.

An independent coffee shop on Millgate, a few steps off Thirsk Market Place, known for fresh food and properly made coffee. Thirsk Tourist Information records it as dogs welcome, so yours sits with you inside rather than at a pavement table. Daytime only, closing mid-afternoon.

Famously eccentric thatched seafood restaurant on Dishforth Road at Asenby, its rooms crammed with memorabilia. Dogs are very welcome in the bar and on the outside terrace for a drink or a bite, though since August 2025 they can no longer stay overnight in the bedrooms. One of the vale's destination meals, so book.

A back-lane fish and chip shop in Sowerby, a village that has effectively become Thirsk's southern suburb but keeps its own character. Thirsk Tourist Information notes the house rule that dogs always get a free sausage, which tells you everything about the welcome. Eat them on the green or take them down to Sowerby Flatts.

A cycling cafe at the North End of Bedale, geared to riders coming off the Dales lanes but happy to feed anyone who walks in. It is listed as dog friendly, and dogs are welcome inside alongside the bikes. Coffee, cake and a bike workshop under one roof.

Small family-run coffee and gift shop on Bedale's market place where, in their own words, fluffy friends are always welcome. Good coffee, cakes and light bites with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. Closed Wednesdays and Sundays, with early afternoon closing on other days.

A four-mile linear walk back into Northallerton on field paths, farm tracks and Myers Lane, taking around an hour and three quarters, with several stiles and a level crossing at the start. The trick is to catch the half-hourly Bedale bus out from Northallerton, get off at Ainderby Steeple by the church and walk home. Dolly Lane is the sting in the tail, a narrow rat-run with fast traffic and thin verges where a short lead is essential, and the field sections are working pasture with cattle.

Green corridor tucked directly behind Northallerton High Street, where the Applegarth's grass and surfaced paths follow Willow Beck, one of several becks that thread through the town towards the River Wiske. A short, level town walk of a mile or so, ideal for an older dog or a quick leg-stretch between shops. No stock to worry about, though the beck banks can be muddy after rain.

Easy 3.1-mile beckside circular from Bedale market place along tree-lined waterside footpaths, passing the curious eighteenth-century harbour, a canal basin complete with mooring rings from Bedale's abandoned waterway scheme, plus a small waterfall and the Georgian leech house. Level going that suits all dogs, finishing among the town's cobbles where the Green Dragon keeps gravy bones. Watch for wildfowl on the beck.

Four and a half miles around the outskirts of Bedale and Aiskew, almost entirely on pavements and surfaced paths with one low stile, and splittable at Bedale Beck bridge into a southern loop of about two and three quarter miles and a northern one of one and three quarter miles. Start at Bedale Leisure Centre on Firby Road; the red route is wheelchair friendly, though you may need to detour slightly for dropped kerbs around Sandhill Lane in Aiskew. This is the walk for a wet week or an elderly dog - hard surfaces throughout, water at the beck bridge and no field mud - and the one low stile is on the path near Big Sheep and Little Cow; it is pavement walking, so a lead is on for most of it.

Four and a quarter miles of flat field paths, farm track and short lane sections between Bedale market place and Crakehall, allowing a shade under two hours; the going is easy but the field edges hold water for days after rain and there are up to six stiles. Start from Bedale market place, where there is parking, or arrive at Bedale station on the Wensleydale Railway a few minutes away on foot. Much of the route crosses working pasture with sheep and cattle so lead work is needed through the stock fields, the stiles are the awkward step type a heavy dog will need lifting over, and Bedale Beck and Rand Beck both give a drink.

Five and a third miles of field paths around Brompton and Water End, about two hours, with sixteen stiles and eleven gates - a great deal of climbing for a dog and a reason to leave a stiff old hound at home. Start at the crossroads in the middle of Brompton; the Darlington bus stops at the church and the Stokesley bus at Water End, and there are pubs at both. Brompton Beck runs beside the first stretch for a drink, the fields are grazed and worked throughout, and the narrow concrete ford is genuinely slippery in wet or icy weather.

Handsome country inn on Lumley Lane at Kirkby Fleetham with fourteen en-suite bedrooms, regional real ales and modern British cooking. The inn advertises itself as guaranteed dog friendly, with dogs welcomed in the bar and in selected bedrooms on request. Quiet lanes and field paths radiate straight from the door.

A quiet, well-kept touring park on Moor Road at Knayton, with pitches for caravans and motorhomes, glamping pods and a holiday cottage. The park states that children and dogs are most welcome, and backs it up with a dog wash and private dog-walking fields on site. Straightforward access from both the A1 and the A19.

A single timber holiday lodge on a working farm at Leake, below the Hambleton scarp and within walking distance of two village pubs. The owners describe the lodge as pet friendly and state that it takes one well behaved dog, with a dog biscuit waiting alongside the welcome tray. Torch provided for the walk back from the pub in the dark.

An adults-oriented touring park on Station Road at South Otterington, midway between Thirsk and Northallerton and handy for the Wiske lanes. Thirsk Tourist Information records the dog policy as a maximum of two dogs per pitch. Quiet, level and well drained, with good walking straight off the site.

A touring park at Leeming Bar, close enough to the A1 for an easy overnight stop but set back from the road. Thirsk Tourist Information records that up to three dogs are permitted. The Wensleydale Railway station and the Bedale lanes are a short drive away.

A Georgian country house hotel in its own grounds at Newby Wiske, a couple of miles south of Northallerton and screened from everything by parkland. Thirsk Tourist Information lists it as welcoming dogs. The gardens and the lanes towards the River Wiske give you an easy hour before breakfast.

A fifteenth-century gatehouse standing beside the River Ure, all that survives of the vanished manor house it once guarded, with a fine oriel window on the first floor. English Heritage keeps it free to enter and open daily, and states that dogs on leads are welcome throughout. It sits directly beside the churchyard, so it pairs neatly with a riverside stroll.

Three vast Neolithic earthwork circles set in open fields between West Tanfield and Nosterfield, sometimes billed as the Stonehenge of the North. English Heritage allows dogs but asks that they are kept on short leads at all times and that visitors stick to the footpaths and desire lines. The henge fields are grazed by sheep, so this is a lead-on visit rather than a run about.

One hundred acres of magnificent woodland garden between Bedale and Snape, with waymarked trails, a lake and national tree collections. Dogs are welcome on leads throughout the arboretum grounds, though not inside the tearoom, the children's play area or the Bird of Prey and Mammal Centre. Autumn colour here is among the best dog walks in the vale.

Heritage railway running from Leeming Bar station on Leases Road up the dale to Leyburn, with stops including Bedale. Dogs travel for a one pound ticket and are welcome aboard the trains and in the station cafes, with wide, almost step-free carriage doors that suit less agile hounds. Hop off at Bedale and walk the beck before catching a later train back.