Dog-friendly walks in Doncaster

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.

The council's own three and a half mile trail from Cantley Park north through the edge of the housing and into Sandall Beat Wood, which links the two biggest green spaces on the east side of Doncaster in one go. Cantley Park itself has woodland, a pond, a pitch and putt course that costs nothing if you bring your own clubs, and a skate park; the trail leaves it and works north across Sandall Beat Road into the wood. Under the Doncaster PSPO the lead goes on for the footpath round the Cantley Park pond and dogs stay out of the fenced play areas, but the rest is open. There is parking at Cantley Park itself, which Sandall Beat's own small car park often lacks by mid-morning at a weekend.

Eighteenth-century landscaped parkland below a Grade I hall two miles north-west of Doncaster city centre, with a chain of ornamental lakes in the valley and long grass slopes above them. The council's own page for the park names walks with the dog as one of the things it is for, and the parkland is open every day of the year even when the museum is shut. Under Doncaster's dog control PSPO the lead comes on for the footpaths that run round the lakes, and dogs must stay out of the fenced children's play areas; the open grass between the hall and the lakes is off lead. Parking is card or contactless only after repeated thefts from the machines, from £1.20 for an hour up to £7.00 over four hours, and the barrier locks at 9pm.

A made lake on the south-east edge of the city, ringed by a wide surfaced path and used constantly by runners, cyclists and wheelchairs because it is completely flat and lit for part of its length. The council has put fifteen wooden posts with QR codes round the water as its Discover Lakeside trails, which give local history and questions as you go, so it works as a walk with something to look at rather than just a lap. This is the clearest case in Doncaster of the PSPO lakeside rule: the whole circuit is a footpath around a lake, so the lead stays on the entire way round. Parking is free and plentiful at the outlet village and the athletics stadium, which makes it the easiest of the city walks to get to.

A Green Flag park of 1922 between Chequer Road and Roman Road, ten minutes on foot from Doncaster city centre and restored for its centenary with new paths, planting and seating. It is small, flat and entirely enclosed by roads and railings, which makes it one of the better city-centre options for a dog that cannot be trusted near traffic, though the gates are open rather than self-closing. Facilities are tennis courts, a multi-use games area, table tennis, a Teqball table and football pitches, so the open grass gets busy on summer evenings. There is no lake here, so the Doncaster PSPO imposes no standing lead requirement, but the fenced toddler and junior play area is a dog exclusion zone and the pitches go lead-on during organised events.

A Victorian park between Greenfield Lane and Bramworth Road on the west side of Doncaster, with The Dell garden, a bandstand and the borough's only public aviary, and a gate straight out onto the River Don. The useful walk is not the park itself but the riverside path west from it, which joins the Trans Pennine Trail and runs on towards Sprotbrough Falls with water on one side the whole way. Doncaster's PSPO puts dogs on a lead on footpaths around lakes and ponds and bans them from the fenced play areas, but does not require a lead on the open grass or the river path. There is no car park at all here, only on-street parking on the surrounding terraced streets, and the riverbank is unfenced with a steep drop in places.

A hundred and forty acres of council-owned woodland behind Doncaster Racecourse, designated a local nature reserve in 1966 and an SSSI in 1984 for its rare insects. A network of wide rides and footpaths runs through it from the car park at the bottom of Sandall Beat Road, mostly flat, with Covill's Trail the surfaced two-kilometre circuit that takes a pushchair or a wheelchair. Doncaster's dog control PSPO does not impose any blanket lead requirement on open council land, so dogs can be off lead through the trees, but they must be kept out of the fenced children's play areas and put on a lead on any footpath running round a pond. There are toilets on site open 9am to 3pm Monday to Friday and an environment centre by the main entrance.

One of the largest parks in Doncaster, a Green Flag site off Thorne Road in Wheatley built around the old boating lake with a smaller pond, wildflower areas and belts of woodland behind. The circuit of the big lake is a flat surfaced mile or so and is the line the Saturday morning parkrun uses, so early Saturdays are busy with runners. The lake path is exactly where Doncaster's PSPO bites: dogs must be on a lead on all footpaths around lakes and ponds, so this is a lead-on walk almost throughout, with the open playing fields the only place to let a dog run. Anglers fish the lake from set pegs and there is a cafe by the entrance open Tuesday to Sunday from 9am until 1.30pm.

A big flat rectangle of open grass on Thorne Road opposite Alderson Drive, ringed by mature limes and used for football, hockey and squash, and one of the few places the council itself names as being for walking the dog. There is no water and no livestock on it, so under the Doncaster PSPO there is no standing lead requirement, which makes it the most straightforward off-lead space within walking distance of the city centre. The one catch is written into the order: on council sports grounds, fields and pitches the lead goes on when the ground is in use for an organised authorised event such as a gala or a charity run, and signs go up when that applies. There is no car park, so it is street parking on the surrounding avenues.