Dog-friendly Norwich

A Thorpe Road corner pub near the station whose own motto is dogs welcome, humans tolerated. There is always a snack and fresh water ready for canine visitors, and dogs are welcome throughout. Five minutes from the Riverside walk and the start of the Whitlingham path.

A well-run backstreet pub on Cowgate in the Norwich Lanes hinterland, with a long keg and cask list and pizza from the kitchen. Dogs, like children, are welcome in the pub before 8pm and not after, which is stated plainly on its own site. Worth knowing before you plan a late supper with the dog.

A riverside free house on Wensum Street by Fye Bridge, with a downstairs bar right on the water and a serious cask list. Dogs are welcome inside on a lead, and the river walk from here to Bishop Bridge is one of the better short city walks. Busy on match days.

Five and a quarter miles one way, about two and a half hours, on the flat trackbed of the old Midland and Great Northern line as it leaves the city through Train Wood and follows the Wensum out past Hellesdon to Drayton. Start at the Barn Road trail head beside Train Wood, ten minutes from the city centre with no car park of its own, so use the St Crispins or Anglia Square parking and walk in, or take the bus and walk back. The whole route is traffic-free with a mix of tarmac, compacted gravel and earth, no stiles and no livestock, the Wensum is reachable at three or four points for a drink, and it is shared with cyclists and horse riders so a lead near the narrow bridges is sensible.

Two and a half miles on a level gravel and grass path all the way round the Great Broad, an hour at a steady pace and the easiest proper walk within sight of Norwich Cathedral. It starts at the country park car park on Whitlingham Lane, postcode NR14 8TR, which charges by the half hour and is enforced by an external contractor, so buy enough time; a yearly permit is £65 online. Dogs are welcome under effective control but must be on a lead in the Conservation Area, on Trowse Water Meadow, at the play area, around the Flint Barn Cafe patio and meadow, and in all the car parks, and the broad's banks shelve steeply into deep water.

Four and a quarter miles in about two hours on riverside path, marsh boardwalk and a stretch of suburban pavement, from the country park along the Yare and the Wensum to the river green at Thorpe St Andrew and back over Whitlingham Marsh. Park at the Whitlingham Country Park car park on Whitlingham Lane, NR14 8TR, paying by the half hour, or take the train to Thorpe and walk it the other way. Dogs must be on a lead in the Conservation Area and on Trowse Water Meadow and in the car parks, the marsh boardwalk sections are narrow with deep dykes on both sides, and there is water at the cafe end.

Ninety acres of grazing marsh and dyke inside the city, bought by Norfolk Wildlife Trust in 2022 and reached from Sweet Briar Road off the ring road. Dogs are allowed but must stay on a two-metre lead and keep to the paths, because the marsh is grazed and full of ground-nesting birds. A genuinely wild walk fifteen minutes from the market.