Dog-friendly Norwich & the Yare

A Thorpe Road corner pub near the station whose own motto is dogs welcome, humans tolerated. There is always a snack and fresh water ready for canine visitors, and dogs are welcome throughout. Five minutes from the Riverside walk and the start of the Whitlingham path.

A handsome inn on Church Plain in Loddon, at the head of the Chet navigation where the river runs down to the Yare. Four-legged friends are most welcome and two of the bedrooms are dog friendly. The riverside path down to Loddon Mill and the staithe is flat and short.

A well-run backstreet pub on Cowgate in the Norwich Lanes hinterland, with a long keg and cask list and pizza from the kitchen. Dogs, like children, are welcome in the pub before 8pm and not after, which is stated plainly on its own site. Worth knowing before you plan a late supper with the dog.

A riverside free house on Wensum Street by Fye Bridge, with a downstairs bar right on the water and a serious cask list. Dogs are welcome inside on a lead, and the river walk from here to Bishop Bridge is one of the better short city walks. Busy on match days.

Four and three quarter miles and a little over two hours, out of the market town on the Weavers' Way, the 61-mile path from Cromer to Great Yarmouth, down to the old Bure navigation and its lock at Aylsham mill and back on field-edge paths. It starts from the free long-stay car park off Aylsham Market Place, which is untimed except on Monday and Friday market days when the front rows fill by nine; the Bure Valley Railway station car park is the paid alternative. The going is flat with kissing gates rather than stiles, the Bure gives a shallow drink at the mill and again at the lock, and the meadows are grazed by cattle from spring to autumn so leads on there.

Five and a quarter miles and around two and a half hours through the parkland of one of the great Jacobean houses, round the mile-long lake, up through the woods to the pyramid mausoleum of the second Earl of Buckinghamshire and back along the multi-use trail. Start at the National Trust car park at Blickling, postcode NR11 6NF, free to members and pay and display for everyone else, with plenty of space except on late-May bluebell weekends. A well-trained dog may explore off lead unless signs say otherwise, but leads are required in the car parks, on the front drive, on the lake walk, which is the busiest route, and anywhere there is livestock.

Two and a half miles in an hour and a quarter, walking both waymarked routes back to back: the hard-surfaced pink circuit of 0.8 miles through the woodland and the 1.6-mile purple route out among the sweet chestnuts, where the ground is uneven and muddy after rain. The main entrance is off Haveringland Road from the B1149 Norwich to Holt road between Horsford and Felthorpe, postcode NR10 4DF, and the car parks are free with free admission to all 122 hectares. Dogs are permitted throughout this Norfolk Wildlife Trust and district council site, the pink route is firm enough for an old or short-legged dog, and there is no open water on either circuit so bring a bowl.

Four and a quarter miles and about two hours on the Angles Way, the 77-mile path from Great Yarmouth to Knettishall Heath, out from the village along the Waveney to the old lock keeper's inn at Geldeston Locks and back over the grazing meadows. Start from the free roadside parking in Geldeston village by the green, since the lane down to the Locks is single-track with almost no space at the bottom and is best walked. The meadows are grazed by cattle for most of the year so leads are needed, the Waveney gives easy shallow access for a drink and a swim, and the riverside path can flood for days after heavy winter rain.

Five and a half miles and about two and three quarter hours on the Wherryman's Way, the 35-mile path from Norwich to Great Yarmouth, out from the staithe along the Chet to the shallow lagoons of Hardley Flood and back through Chedgrave and Hardley Street. Start from the free car park at Loddon staithe beside the mill, which is untimed and rarely full, and note the riverside section is a grass wall that stays wet well into spring. Dogs are fine under effective control on the rights of way and the Chet gives a drink at the moorings, but the marsh sections are grazed by cattle where leads are needed, and the reedbeds around the Flood hide deep water with no bank to climb out on.

Five and a quarter miles one way, about two and a half hours, on the flat trackbed of the old Midland and Great Northern line as it leaves the city through Train Wood and follows the Wensum out past Hellesdon to Drayton. Start at the Barn Road trail head beside Train Wood, ten minutes from the city centre with no car park of its own, so use the St Crispins or Anglia Square parking and walk in, or take the bus and walk back. The whole route is traffic-free with a mix of tarmac, compacted gravel and earth, no stiles and no livestock, the Wensum is reachable at three or four points for a drink, and it is shared with cyclists and horse riders so a lead near the narrow bridges is sensible.

Ninety acres of grazing marsh and dyke inside the city, bought by Norfolk Wildlife Trust in 2022 and reached from Sweet Briar Road off the ring road. Dogs are allowed but must stay on a two-metre lead and keep to the paths, because the marsh is grazed and full of ground-nesting birds. A genuinely wild walk fifteen minutes from the market.