Dog-friendly walks in Barnsley

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-five hectares of reedbed, wet woodland, fen and lowland meadow on the old Barnsley to Cudworth railway line, reached from a small free car park on Shaw Lane. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust states plainly that "Dogs are allowed on the public footpaths on leads", so this is a lead walk, not a place to let one range. The footpaths are good but are reached by steps or steep slopes off the old line, which rules out wheels. The car park holds about ten cars and is locked between dusk and dawn, so do not leave it late.

Eighty hectares of woodland, wet woodland, ponds and grassland along the River Dearne between Barnsley town centre and Stairfoot, including the ancient oak and silver birch of Cliffe Wood. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's stated dog rule is "On a lead. Some more remote areas are suitable for running free", which is a rare piece of honesty from a landowner and worth reading twice before you unclip. The paths are good tarmac with a range of DDA compliant routes, so it is one of the few sites in the borough that genuinely works with a wheelchair or a bad knee. Park on Pontefract Road, or off Eaming View at the western end.

Thirty-eight hectares of grassland, young woodland and lowland heath on reclaimed colliery and landfill ground above Lundwood, and one of the very few sites in this county where the landowner actually says a dog can run. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's rule here is "Under effective control" with "Great areas for free running", and it describes the site in its own words as a great place for a stroll and walking the dog. The paths are good and partly tarmac, which makes it usable through the winter when the Dearne flashes are under water. Parking is free in two small lay-bys off Littleworth Lane, and they hold only a handful of cars each.

Barnsley's Victorian town park on Park Road, given by Phoebe Locke in 1861 and best known for the listed observation tower of 1877 that stands on the high ground with two viewing platforms. There is no lead requirement here: Barnsley's borough-wide dog control PSPO asks only that you clear up immediately, carry a means of doing so, keep out of the fenced play area and put the dog on a lead if an authorised officer asks. The circuit takes in the bandstand of 1908, the bowling green and the tower field, on tarmac paths that climb gently from the Park Road gates. Open dawn to dusk daily with its own car park, and there is a cafe and public toilets on site.

Forty-two hectares of grassland with pockets of broadleaved woodland on the old Wharncliffe Woodmoor colliery ground north of Barnsley, joined directly to the Trans Pennine Trail. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust says simply that dogs are permitted, and asks only that you take care for ground-nesting birds in spring, so there is no blanket lead rule here. Cycling is allowed on the Trans Pennine Trail through the site but not on the reserve paths, which keeps the grassland quiet. Parking is a small layby off the roundabout on West Green Way and there is nothing else nearby, so arrive early on a fine Sunday.

A level circuit of the sixty-acre Worsbrough Reservoir, starting at the seventeenth-century water mill at the dam end off Park Road and running round the water on made paths. Barnsley Museums describes the country park as dog friendly and there are water bowls outside the cafe; assistance dogs are welcome everywhere in the park, the cafe, the shop and the visitor centre, but no dog may go into the mill building itself because it is a working food production area. The path is narrow in places, muddy where tree roots come through, and there is a stone bridge only 780mm wide about halfway round, which matters if you have a wide buggy or a big dog on an extending lead. Ducks, geese and sheep use the water's edge, so keep the lead handy on the reservoir side.