Dog-friendly South Yorkshire

A ten-barrel brewery on Young Street off the top of the city centre with its own tap room in front of the plant, and a window through to the brewhouse so you can watch a brew day from your seat. The brewery's own site states that dogs are welcome with well-behaved owners, which is the whole policy; there are no separate dog areas because it is one small room. It is deliberately child-free with no jukebox, no sports screens, no games machines and no background music, which in practice makes it one of the calmer bars in Doncaster for a nervous dog. Four of their own beers and two guests on cask, three kegs and six handpulled still ciders; closed Monday, open from 5pm Tuesday to Thursday, noon Friday and Saturday, and noon to 5pm Sunday.

A community pub on Doncaster Road in Mexborough, the nearest place of its kind to the Denaby Ings end of the Dearne valley and the Trans Pennine Trail through the Don gorge. The Craft Union page for the pub lists it as a dog friendly pub and states that they are pet-friendly and welcome everyone, alongside the beer garden, pool table, dartboard and cask ale. It is a sports pub with several screens and live entertainment, so it is not a quiet corner for a nervous dog on a match night. There is a beer garden, which is the sensible place to sit with a wet dog after the Dearne valley paths.

A Vintage Inns pub on Loxley Road on the edge of the valley, with gardens looking out over it and log fires inside. The company publishes a dog page for this specific pub: fresh water bowls are always available, there is a canine menu to ask about and treats are usually on hand. It has a large car park, which is unusual on this side of Sheffield, and it is a sensible finishing point for a Loxley or Rivelin valley walk or for the Damflask circuit a few miles further up the road. Food is restaurant-led, so book if you want a table at a weekend.

A community local on West Street in Conisbrough, a few minutes below the castle and within walking distance of the Trans Pennine Trail crossing of the Don. It is a Craft Union house and the operator's own page for the pub lists it as a dog friendly pub alongside the pool table, the dartboard, the function room and the sports screens. What that page does not do is say which rooms a dog may use or whether bowls are put down, so treat it as dogs allowed rather than dogs catered for. There is outdoor seating at the front, and the pub shows football and rugby on several screens so it is loud on match days.

A brewpub on Cemetery Road just south of the city centre, with the working brewhouse visible down the stairs and five of its own ales on the hand pumps. The split is stated clearly on its own site: the bar is the room that welcomes drinkers, diners and dogs alike, while the dining room next door is set up as a quieter, more formal space. So a dog eats in the bar. Bar snacks run through the day and the full seasonal menu is served at proper mealtimes. Sheffield General Cemetery, which is a decent short walk, is directly across the road.

A Craft Union pub on Market Street in the centre of Hoyland, listed by the operator as a dog friendly pub, with an outside area, sports screens and an accessible toilet. It is a drinking pub rather than a dining one, and there is no published detail on which rooms a dog may use, so ask at the bar. Elsecar Heritage Centre and the reservoir are about a mile down the hill, which makes this the nearest town centre pub to that walk.

A garden centre with a large cafe on Bawtry Road on the south side of Tickhill, and the most practical indoor stop with a dog anywhere in this corner of the borough. The company publishes the rule plainly: well behaved dogs are permitted in store and in designated areas of the cafes, and those areas have pet drinking stations. Dogs must be kept on a lead throughout the store and you are responsible for clearing up any accident. It opens 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday and 10.30am to 4.30pm on Sunday, with a large free car park, which makes it a sensible meeting point before a walk round Tickhill.

A working farm run as an education charity off Whirlow Lane on the Sheffield side of the Limb Valley, with a cafe in the converted barn that its own site states is dog friendly. Breakfasts, sandwiches, changing specials, cakes and deli items, open Wednesday to Sunday nine until four and closed Monday and Tuesday. Table requests go through a form rather than a booking system. The farm sits between Ecclesall Woods and Whirlow Brook Park, so it fits into a walk from either; the trust publishes nothing about dogs in the animal areas, so treat the cafe as the part that is confirmed.

A large garden centre in the walled kitchen garden of the Wentworth estate on Hague Lane, north of Wentworth village, with the Walled Garden Restaurant, the Courtyard and the Chicken Coop Cafe all under one gate. Dogs are welcome across the site on a lead, and there is covered outdoor seating in the Courtyard plus indoor seating in the Marquee at the end of the Walled Garden Restaurant, which is the useful bit in bad weather. The gift shop, The Bothy, the deli and the family farm are all closed to dogs, though guide and assistance dogs go everywhere. Parking is free and it is five minutes from Wentworth Woodhouse and the Needle's Eye.

The newest of the RSPB's Dearne Valley satellites, a block of farmed fields between Bolton upon Dearne and Harlington reflooded into wet grassland and marsh on the north bank of the River Dearne. A bridleway runs through the site and about 2.5km of permissive paths take you round the perimeter and back along the river, with a short spur to a central viewing point. The RSPB's stated rule here is "Under control dogs welcome", which makes it one of the very few Dearne Valley reserves where a dog is not restricted to a lead. There are no toilets and no cafe, and the paths are grass and stone rather than surfaced, so it is heavier going than the trail at Old Moor.

The quieter of the two Bradfield reservoirs, sitting in a steep-sided cleugh above the village with Agden Bog, a Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust reserve, at its head. Yorkshire Water grades its own 3.5 mile Agden route three out of four for difficulty and is honest about the going: the public footpath from Windy Bank round the north of the water is mostly flat and well surfaced but can be muddy, and boots are recommended. The whole route is under Yorkshire Water's lead rule, and the water is not safe for a dog to swim in or drink from. Low Bradfield and High Bradfield sit to the south and south-east with pubs, cafes and public toilets.

The old spa lake at Askern, a short drive north of Doncaster off Station Road, with a lakeside cafe, toilets between the cafe and the car park, playing fields and a separate pond. The council measures one circuit of the main footpath round the lake at 638 metres, so this is a stroll rather than a walk, but it is flat, surfaced and easy to combine several laps of. Angling is permitted from dawn to dusk with no fee, so there are usually rods on the bank. Because the whole circuit is a footpath around a lake, the borough PSPO keeps dogs on a lead the entire way round, and the fenced toddler and junior play areas are dog exclusion zones.

Twenty-one hectares of rolling grassland with a fringe of broadleaved woodland on the old Barnsley Main colliery site at Hoyle Mill, with the listed headgear and winding house still standing at the entrance on Oaks Lane. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's stated dog rule here is simply "On a lead". The bottom of the site is flat with a wide footpath and joins the Trans Pennine Trail directly, but the climb to the top is genuinely steep at about one in five, so pick your route to suit the dog. Parking is informal street parking on Oaks Lane opposite the old mine shaft building; there is no car park.

Twenty hectares of plantation in the parish of Cantley-with-Branton, laid out around two hundred years ago as private hunting woodland on a seven thousand acre estate and closed to the public for most of its life. The Forestry Commission took it on in 1953 for timber and still kept people out; the council bought it in 1994 and opened it for the first time. Timber production continues alongside conservation work, so expect forestry rides, stacked logs and the occasional closed compartment rather than a manicured park. It is council open space under the Doncaster PSPO with no lake and no livestock, so no standing lead requirement, and it is quiet enough that you will often have the whole wood to yourself.

One hundred and eighty-one hectares of heather moor, birch scrub and old pasture on the Sheffield side of the city boundary, part of the Eastern Peak District Moors SSSI and owned by Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust. The Trust's instruction is plain: keep dogs on leads, for the ground-nesting birds and because sheep graze the pastures and cattle have been reintroduced to the heath. Red deer are seen here regularly, which is the other reason a lead matters. The circuit from Stony Ridge car park drops south-east through bracken and birch to Blacka Dike, follows the stream, climbs through the plantation to Strawberry Lee Lane and returns along the moor edge path near Hathersage Road, with several boggy stretches and steep pulls.

A full-service hotel on High Road at Warmsworth, right on junction 36 of the A1(M) and the closest bed to the Don Gorge, Sprotbrough Flash and the Conisbrough end of the Trans Pennine Trail. The pet policy is published in full on the hotel's own amenities page and the useful line is that dogs are allowed in the hotel bar, which is unusual for a chain hotel and means you are not stuck in the bedroom all evening. It charges for all pets except assistance dogs at £15 per night, takes a maximum of two, allows only dogs rather than pets generally, and asks that any pet over 35kg is notified in advance. Pets cannot be left in the room alone, so plan around that if you want to eat out.

A budget business hotel on First Point Business Park at Balby, three miles from the city centre with free on-site parking and no height barrier on the car park, which matters if you are travelling in a van. Its published pet policy is one of the most detailed of any hotel in the borough: £15 per dog per night, a maximum of two dogs, all pets welcome apart from dangerous dog breeds, no pet left alone in a room and no pets in the dining room, with any damage including carpets charged and a pet policy to sign at check-in. The hotel keeps dog bowls and some treats behind the desk and has a small patio at the back for a last thing at night. Its own page is honest about the surroundings: this is lead-type walking round the hotel, with the Lakeside circuit a few minutes away by car, and it points guests at the Maple Tree up the road for a pint with the dog because the hotel restaurant is out of bounds.

A converted grammar school on Leopold Square in the middle of Sheffield, five minutes from the station and the tram, and the only central hotel here with a published dog policy. The pet-friendly rooms are all on the lower ground floor with a door straight out to the courtyard, which matters at six in the morning in a city-centre hotel. Each dog stay includes a bed with washable covers, food and water bowls, treats, a toy and poo bags. Dogs are barred from the breakfast room, so breakfast is either in the bedroom or in the ground floor bar, and the hotel asks that dogs are on a lead anywhere in the public parts of the building and not left alone in the room for long.

A Victorian hall in twelve acres of its own grounds off Kenwood Road in Nether Edge, with a lake, woodland paths and lawns, ten minutes from the city centre and twenty from the Porter Valley. A set number of bedrooms are designated dog friendly and come with a bed, towels, a water bowl and treats waiting on arrival, and reception keeps a pit stop stocked with treats, water and poo bags. Dogs may go in the bar, on the alfresco terrace and anywhere in the grounds, but not in the Gallery Restaurant, so breakfast and dinner with the dog means eating in the bar. The hotel warns that some of the paths through the grounds are uneven and asks that dogs are kept away from the lake and the ducks.

A forty-six bedroom manor house on Mosborough High Street at the far south-east corner of Sheffield, fifteen minutes from Chesterfield and about the same from the edge of the Peak. Only standard double rooms are set up for pets, and the hotel is unusual in accepting cats and other well-behaved animals as well as dogs, up to two per room. Darcy's restaurant and bar occupy the old stately rooms; the hotel does not publish a rule allowing dogs in either, so treat the bedroom and the grounds as the extent of it and check before you book a table. The Moss Valley woodlands and the Rother Valley are both a short drive.

A Georgian country house hotel with its own golf course at Owston, north of Doncaster off the A19, set in parkland well away from any main road. The hotel's own terms are unusually clear about where a dog may go: pets are welcome in the bar, the lounge and selected dog-friendly bedrooms, and are not permitted in the restaurant except for guide dogs, so you eat in the bar or the lounge instead. Dog rooms are a limited set, so the dog has to be named at the time of booking rather than turned up with. The hotel also states in the same terms that a cleaning fee is applied if a dog fouls any area and a damage fee if a dog damages the building, fixtures, fittings or furnishings.

The white circular keep above Conisbrough is the finest twelfth-century tower of its kind in England and stands on a steep motte over the Don valley, run by English Heritage. English Heritage states plainly that dogs on leads are welcome in the grounds only, so a dog can come round the bailey and the earthworks but cannot go up inside the keep or the visitor centre; assistance dogs are welcome across the whole site. The grounds are grass and steep in places and there is no shade on the motte on a hot afternoon. There is no visitor car park of its own: English Heritage recommends Calvert Way opposite the private car park at the bottom of Castle Hill, with street parking in the village and a few accessible bays by the visitor centre.

The former ironworks and colliery workshops of the Fitzwilliam estate on Wath Road, now a run of stone buildings round a yard holding antiques units, craft workshops, a heritage railway and the only Newcomen-type engine still in its original place. Admission and parking are both free, so it works as a stop rather than a day out, and the yard is flat setts and tarmac. Dogs are welcome outside and at the outdoor seating of both cafes, The Pantry and Brambles Tea Rooms, and the centre asks that they are kept on a lead. Assistance dogs are welcome in all areas of the buildings; other dogs are not taken inside.

An open-air outlet centre on White Rose Way beside Doncaster Lakeside, and the most usefully dog-friendly indoor destination in the borough because it publishes exactly which shops will take a dog. Every store carries a sticker on the door: a green sticker means dogs are very welcome inside, a blue sticker means assistance dogs only, and around thirty of the units are green, including Clarks, The Body Shop, Mountain Warehouse, Trespass, Pavers and Skechers. There is a dedicated shelter called the Mutt Hut near the outdoor play area where you can sit with a drink, open Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm and Sunday 10am to 4.30pm, and water bowls are put out through the centre. The house rules are leads on at all times, supervise and clean up, be mindful of other shoppers and pets, and never leave a dog unattended.

The ruins of a Cistercian abbey in a narrow limestone valley below Maltby, with the transept walls still standing to full height and Maltby Beck running through the middle of the site past a set of small waterfalls. English Heritage lists it among its dog-friendly places and entry is free, which makes it an unusually good stop with a dog for an abbey of this rank. The grounds are grass and gravel and mostly level once you are down in the valley, and the walk in from the free car park is about 250 metres on a rough path. Capability Brown landscaped the valley in the 1770s, which is why the ruins sit in mown lawn rather than rubble.

Nineteen acres of Grade II listed gardens off Clarkehouse Road, laid out in 1836, with the restored Paxton glass pavilions, a bear pit and around eighteen distinct garden areas. Entry is free. The Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust publishes a short list of garden guidelines and the first line of it is that dogs must be kept on leads, so this is a lead-on visit throughout, not a place to let one off among the borders. Ball games, cycling and skateboarding are all prohibited too. There is no visitor car park apart from disabled spaces at the Thompson Road entrance, so come on foot or by bus from Ecclesall Road.

National Trust gardens and parkland at Stainborough on the western edge of Barnsley, with a Georgian mansion, a serpentine walk and a sham castle on the hill above. The Trust allows dogs on fixed short leads through the whole of the gardens and parkland and specifically bans extendable leads, which is worth knowing before you set off. There is a dog-friendly section inside the Long Barn Cafe as well as outdoor seating, water bowls at visitor reception, the Long Barn and outside the conservatory, and a set of dog agility equipment on the play field. Waste bags and short leads are handed out free at reception if you have forgotten yours.