West Tanfield, Sleningford and Mickley

A fifteenth-century gatehouse standing beside the River Ure, all that survives of the vanished manor house it once guarded, with a fine oriel window on the first floor. English Heritage keeps it free to enter and open daily, and states that dogs on leads are welcome throughout. It sits directly beside the churchyard, so it pairs neatly with a riverside stroll.

A Georgian coaching inn on West Tanfield's main street, now a smart dining pub with a Georgian dining room and a proper stocked bar alongside it. The kitchen is ambitious but the door policy is not: the inn describes itself as dog, cyclist and muddy boot friendly, so wet spaniels are as welcome as walkers. Log fires in the winter months and three bedrooms upstairs if the day runs long.

A village inn on Church Street with a garden that runs down to the banks of the River Ure, and one of the prettiest pub views in the Vale of Mowbray. Well behaved dogs are welcome and, in the pub's own words, might be offered a biscuit or two from the jar kept on the bar. Five en-suite bedrooms make it a sensible base for the Ure valley and Thornborough.