Dog-friendly walks in Cartmel

Cartmel village and the racecourse

Three and a half miles and an hour and a half, a hundred metres of climb: out of the square past the priory, round the outside of the little steeplechase course and back by the field paths and the beck. Start in Cartmel village square - the racecourse car park is free and enormous on non-race days but closed when there is a meeting, and the village itself has almost no parking, so check the fixture list before you set off. It is gentle, low-level and short, which suits an old dog, and the beck gives a drink at two points; the course perimeter is grazed by sheep out of season and there are cattle in the fields towards Aynsome, so leads for most of the middle section.