Dog-friendly stays in Borrowdale

A big spa hotel at the head of Derwent Water on the B5289, with the Lodore waterfall itself in the woods directly behind the building and the Derwent Water shore path a couple of hundred yards away. Dogs are taken in most bedrooms and some suites and have two rooms of their own to sit in, the Side Lounge to the right of the entrance and the Conservatory beyond the bar, where they can be with you for any meal. They are shut out of both restaurants and out of the Lake View Bar seating, though they may walk through the bar to reach the Conservatory.

A small hotel in four acres of grounds on the Borrowdale road between Lodore and Ashness, with a gate onto the Derwent Water shore path and the woodland below Falcon Crag. Dogs are taken in designated dog-friendly rooms in the main hotel and in Four Oaks Cottage, and the hotel does not charge for them when you book direct rather than through an agent. Not every room is a dog room, so it is worth ringing rather than booking blind.

A three-hundred-year-old walkers house at the top of Borrowdale, run on house-party lines with a tea bar and shared tables. Well-behaved dogs are allowed in the bedrooms but not in any of the public rooms, and you are asked to clean and dry them at the back door.

An 1866 hotel in the trees between Lodore and the foot of Shepherd's Crag, half a mile from the Derwent Water shore and on the Borrowdale bus route from Keswick. The hotel has taken dogs since it opened and still puts them in a number of bedrooms, with dog beds and bowls provided on request and a set of dog-free rooms kept back for guests who would rather not. Dogs sit with you in the lounges and the conservatory, including for meals, but not in the restaurant.

A walkers' hotel in the middle of Rosthwaite, on the Cumbria Way and a few minutes from the start of the Castle Crag and Dock Tarn paths. Dogs are taken in the bedrooms, the bar and the lounge, and can sit with you for dinner in the Poets Corner dining room, though not in the front dining room. Water bowls are put out and the hotel asks for notice when you book with a dog. The charge is a single fee for the stay rather than a nightly one, which makes it cheap for a week.