Dog-friendly Castleton

A village inn at the top of Esk Dale, a few minutes from Castleton Rigg and the Danby moor road. Well behaved dogs are welcome in the bar areas, where the staff will happily produce water bowls, treats and a fuss, and there are dog-friendly rooms upstairs.

A former Victorian station hotel of 1865 tucked between the Esk Valley railway and the River Esk below Castleton, with a sizeable beer garden right by the water. The pub goes out of its way for dogs, with treats, water bowls and plenty of fuss, and its two smart bedrooms take dogs for a nightly charge. Highly rated cooking for somewhere so pleasingly remote.

Six and a half miles with 210 metres of climbing, roughly three hours, along the whaleback of Castleton Rigg and back down through the field paths and stiles of Danby Dale; the ridge is exposed and the dale bottom stays soft into early summer. Start in Castleton village, which has roadside parking and a station on the Esk Valley line at the foot of the hill. There is little water on the ridge so carry some, several of the dale stiles are the narrow squeeze sort that a big dog will need lifting over, and leads are required on the open moor from 1 March to 31 July as well as through the grazed fields lower down.