Dog-friendly The Northumberland Coast

A modern inn on the edge of Amble with thirty bedrooms, a beer garden and free parking, run on the same dog policy as the group's other Northumberland houses: dogs in the designated bar and dining areas, water bowls and treats as standard. Many of the rooms have their own outside door, which makes a late walk easy. Up to two dogs per room.

A big, busy inn built onto the harbour wall, with windows over the boats to the Farne Islands. Dogs are welcome in the designated bar and dining areas, where water bowls and treats are kept as standard, and there is a dog menu if you want to go that far. Dog-friendly bedrooms are spread through the building, some on the ground floor with their own patch of garden.

Village pub a street back from the harbour, run by the same group as the Craster Arms and with a written dog policy rather than a shrug. Dogs are welcome in the bar through all service hours and on the courtyard and terrace, but the orangery is dog-friendly only between noon and 3pm and the restaurant not at all. Leads on throughout.

The pub at the top of Beadnell, five minutes from the bay, and unusually clear about dogs: they are welcome in the bar, in the restaurant and outside through every service hour. Water is put down inside and out, with a tap in the garden for rinsing sandy legs. Dogs may also stay overnight in the rooms.

The pub in the middle of the village, with a garden looking over the priory ruins to the castle and three Northumbrian ales on. The bar is dog friendly; of the four en-suite bedrooms only Room 2 takes a dog. Check the causeway crossing times before you settle in, because the tide, not the landlord, decides when you leave.

The old Ye Olde Cross on Narrowgate, named for the untouched bottles in the front window that local superstition says will kill whoever moves them. It is a Greene King house with rooms above and it sits on the corner where Narrowgate meets Bailiffgate, a minute from the castle gate. Greene King publishes a dog-friendly page for this pub and lists Dog Friendly among its facilities alongside the beer garden, but it does not say which rooms dogs may use, so treat the bar and the garden as the safe assumption and ask about the restaurant side. Nothing is published about dogs in the bedrooms.

Daytime cafe and courtyard in the middle of Warkworth, good for breakfast before the castle opens. It is dog friendly, but the dog-friendly tables are a limited set: say you have a dog when you reserve, because they are subject to availability. The courtyard is the pleasanter half in fine weather.

The bakery and coffee stop at the entrance plaza of The Alnwick Garden, on the free side of the ticket barrier off Denwick Lane, so you can use it without paying to go into the garden. The garden's own FAQ says The Bakery welcomes dogs on leads every day, which makes it the reliable Alnwick coffee stop when it is not a Thursday or a Sunday and the garden itself is closed to dogs. It sits directly on the walkway between the Alnwick Town and Denwick Lane entrances, which is also open to dogs at any time, and the Waterside Trail starts from the same car park.

A farm cafe on the shore at Beal with the best free view of Holy Island in the county, plus a campsite behind it. Dogs are welcome, and the outside tables look straight across the mud flats to the causeway. Good coffee and cake while you wait for the tide to drop.

Home-baked scones and pots of tea in an old stone house a hundred yards from the castle gate. Dogs are always welcome, and in decent weather the courtyard patio garden at the back is the spot to aim for. Expect a queue at half past three in August.

Glass-fronted restaurant above Beadnell Bay, built for the view and busy with it. Dogs are welcome in the restaurant only between half past eight in the morning and five in the afternoon, and on the decking and in the orangery at any hour. After five the indoor rooms are dog-free, which catches people out at dinner.

Bamburgh's serious seafood restaurant, small enough that booking is not optional in season. There is a dog-friendly area which you select as part of the online booking, rather than a general welcome across the room. Shellfish landed at Seahouses, cooked plainly and well.

Six miles of nearly unbroken sand and dune in three hours, south past Buston and Birling Links to Warkworth beach and inland to the castle. Begin at the Alnmouth dune car park and come back on the X18 bus, which runs hourly between the two villages most of the day. This is the emptiest big beach on the county’s southern coast, unrestricted all year and off-lead the whole way, with burns crossing the sand for a drink; the dune slacks are grazed in places and the last half-mile follows the Coquet through Warkworth on lanes.

Four easy miles in about an hour and three quarters, along the beach below the coloured houses, round the mouth of the Aln and back beside the estuary to the village. Start from the beach car park on the dunes at the north end of Alnmouth, which is pay-and-display and modest in size; the streets themselves are largely residents-only. Alnmouth beach has no seasonal dog restriction and is off-lead sand, but the estuary mudflats are a roost for waders and the sheep-grazed dune bank between beach and river needs a lead.

Two miles from The Alnwick Garden car park down through the Pastures to the River Aln, west along the bank to the four-arch Lion Bridge with the Percy lion on its parapet, and back up under the castle walls. This is the Waterside Trail published by Northumberland Estates, who own the ground, and it is the walk to do in Alnwick with a dog, because the estate's other big option, Hulne Park, bans dogs outright. Grass and gravel path, gently rolling, one gate. The estate's own instruction is that much of this land is a conservation area, so dogs are to be kept under strict control, and the trail is currently diverted around the Riverbrook Gardens housing works.

The longer of the two Waterside Trail variants that Northumberland Estates publishes from The Alnwick Garden car park, about three and a half miles taking in the Lion Bridge, the north bank of the Aln past the castle's Capability Brown parkland, and a swing east through farmland towards Denwick Bridge before turning back. Field-edge and riverside path with two gates and a short stretch of estate track. The estate's stated rule is that dogs must be kept under strict control here because the land is a conservation area, and the field sections are stock-grazed. Do not attempt to link it into Hulne Park: the estate does not permit dogs there.

Three miles there and back east out of Alnwick Market Place along Bondgate Within and Denwick Lane, past The Alnwick Garden entrance and out between the hedges to Denwick Bridge over the Aln and the hamlet beyond. It is the flattest way out of town on foot and it stays on public highway and verge throughout, which makes it a reliable option when the estate trails are wet or diverted. The county dog control PSPO requires a lead of no more than 1.5m on classified 'A' and 'B' roads and their verges, and Denwick Lane joins the B1340 at the far end, so the lead stays on. There is no exclusion anywhere on the route.

A mile and a half round the historic core, from the Market Place up Narrowgate and along Bailiffgate under the castle gatehouse, out past the museum to Wagonway Road and the old Alnwick station that now houses Barter Books, then back through Clayport and Bondgate Within under the surviving town gate. All pavement, all lit, and short enough to be the last walk of the day from a hotel. The county dog control PSPO places no exclusion on any of it and requires a lead only on the classified roads, in the cemetery and if an officer asks; the enclosed play area off Greenwell Road is out of bounds to dogs year round.

A seafront hotel at St Aidan's, looking straight out at the Farnes, and one of the few places on this coast to say plainly how many dog rooms it holds. Twenty of the bedrooms are designated dog-friendly, some with private garden space, so check availability rather than assuming. Dogs are asked to stay off the beds and furniture.

A revived village hotel with a decent kitchen and a set of pet-friendly bedrooms, the ground-floor ones opening straight outside so the six o'clock walk does not involve a corridor. Ten minutes on foot to the bay. The hotel confirms pet-friendly accommodation but does not publish a dog charge, so agree it at booking.

A large Haven caravan park on the cliff top at Magdalene Fields, ten minutes' walk from the Elizabethan walls and with its own steps down to the sand. Haven's own park page states plainly: "We welcome dogs with open arms! There's a dog-friendly beach and restaurant terrace as well as nearby areas to walk that'll make your pooches' tails wag. You can even bring well-behaved dogs into designated areas of the main restaurant." Dogs go in pet-friendly caravans only, which are a subset of the stock and must be selected at booking, so a general availability search will show you vans you cannot use. The Brigs of Tweed is the on-park bar and restaurant with the dog terrace.

Simple, well-kept lodge rooms a short walk from Amble harbour and the Braid, with dog-friendly rooms among them. Handy for the fish shacks and the Coquet Island boat trips, and for the coast path north to Warkworth. Confirm the dog room when booking as they are a subset of the total.

A working farm on the ridge between Seahouses and Bamburgh with self-catering cottages, lodges, wigwams and a touring caravan field, all of it set up for dogs rather than tolerating them. The farm tracks give you a walk before breakfast without touching a road. The beach at Seahouses is a mile and a half down the lane.

A quiet, old-fashioned small hotel on the edge of the village, handy for both the castle and the golf links. The hotel states that it is dog friendly but does not say which bedrooms take dogs or whether there is a charge, so confirm when you book. Beach access is through the dunes at the end of Links Road.

The great red-sandstone block on its whinstone crag, still lived in by the Armstrong family and open to visitors most of the year. Dogs on short leads are welcome across the grounds and in the Victorian Stables and Tack Room Takeaway, with water bowls dotted about the site. The State Rooms, Clock Tower Cafe and the aviation museum are for assistance dogs only.

England's first purpose-built infantry barracks, put up from 1717 to Nicholas Hawksmoor's design around a parade square off The Parade, with the Main Guard sentry building down on Palace Street. English Heritage names Berwick-upon-Tweed Barracks and Main Guard on its own published list of dog-friendly properties, so a dog on a lead can come with you. English Heritage's stated rule for its dog-friendly sites is to keep the dog on a lead near livestock and to clean up after it. The barracks square is gravel and cobble with no shade, and the site sits directly on the ramparts walk, which makes it an easy add-on to the walls circuit rather than a destination in itself. Check opening before travelling, as parts of the site have been in and out of use during the Living Barracks redevelopment.

A gaunt fourteenth-century curtain wall on a headland, reached only on foot: 1.3 miles from Craster across working farmland with no road anywhere near it. English Heritage lists it among its dog-friendly properties, with dogs on leads throughout. The fields hold cattle and sheep in most seasons, so the lead is not a formality here.

The rose-red ruin of the priory that made this island famous, with the celebrated rainbow arch still standing over the crossing. English Heritage lists it among its dog-friendly properties, dogs on leads. Time the visit around the causeway tides, and expect the whole village to be busy in the middle of the day.

The Duchess of Northumberland's twelve-acre walled garden below the castle, with the Grand Cascade, the Poison Garden and the treehouse. Do not assume this one either way: the garden is open to dogs on two days a week only. Its own visitor FAQ states "The Alnwick Garden is dog friendly on Thursdays and Sundays, when well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome", with a maximum of two dogs per person. Outside those Dog Days, dogs can still use the walkway between the Alnwick Town and Denwick Lane entrances at any time, and The Bakery takes dogs on leads every day. Lilidorei, the play village on the same site, admits registered guide and assistance dogs only, and they must be recognisable as working dogs by harness or lead.

The Percy stronghold above the Coquet, its cross-shaped keep still climbable for the view down the village street. English Heritage lists the castle among its dog-friendly properties, with dogs on leads. The Hermitage, the chapel cut into the rock upriver, is the exception: dogs are not allowed there at all.