The Porter Valley: Endcliffe Park to Forge Dam

The largest ancient semi-natural woodland in South Yorkshire, dominated by oak and birch, with more than fifteen kilometres of public footpaths and no admission charge at any hour. The Woodland Discovery Centre off Abbey Lane has toilets in the car park as well as inside, and the Woodland Coffee Stop does hot drinks and light lunches; the Abbeydale Miniature Railway runs in the same clearing. This is council land, so the city's Responsible Dog Walking Code of Conduct applies rather than any order: dogs in sight and under control, on a lead if recall is unreliable, short leads from March to August on ecologically sensitive ground, and out of the streams. The paths are wide and well used, and the woods drain reasonably well but the lower sections by the Limb Brook stay muddy through winter.

Sheffield's largest park at over two hundred acres, spread across the ridge between Norton Lees and Woodseats, and unusual for a city park in being mostly grazing pasture and woodland rather than mown grass. Streams run through the bottom of the valleys and there are ponds near the Cobnar Road end. Graves Park Animal Farm sits in the middle of it with rare breed cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry in fenced paddocks, and the council's own dog code asks you to avoid disturbing grazing animals and give them space, which here means a lead anywhere near the farm fields. Paths are a mix of tarmac and dirt and there is a cafe, toilets and free parking at several entrances.

A converted grammar school on Leopold Square in the middle of Sheffield, five minutes from the station and the tram, and the only central hotel here with a published dog policy. The pet-friendly rooms are all on the lower ground floor with a door straight out to the courtyard, which matters at six in the morning in a city-centre hotel. Each dog stay includes a bed with washable covers, food and water bowls, treats, a toy and poo bags. Dogs are barred from the breakfast room, so breakfast is either in the bedroom or in the ground floor bar, and the hotel asks that dogs are on a lead anywhere in the public parts of the building and not left alone in the room for long.