Dog-friendly Middleham

A pub and small hotel on Middleham's little market square, open all day for coffee, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner in racing country. Dogs are welcome inside, a water bowl is put down for them and there is a resident pub dog to do the honours. Dogs are taken in the bedrooms too for a small nightly charge.

Six and three quarter miles in about three and a half hours, out over Middleham Low Moor where the racehorses work, past Tupgill Park to the ruins of Coverham Abbey, and back on woodland paths above the River Cover to Cover Bridge. Easy going on turf and track with one long steady climb of a little over 200 metres; start at Middleham market place below the castle, with free parking on the cobbles. Racehorses use the gallops every morning and have absolute right of way, so keep dogs on a short lead and well off the tracks before eleven o'clock; sheep graze the moor, and the Cover gives shady woodland and shallow water for a swim on the way back.

Traditional coaching inn on the cobbled square of Middleham, racehorse capital of the north and home to a mighty ruined castle. The hotel is dog friendly, with dogs allowed in the characterful wood-fired bar and in designated bedrooms; staff have been known to slip visiting dogs a breakfast sausage. Gallops-watching and Wensleydale walks from the door.