Brook Bottom Farm, Ramsbottom

Brook Bottom Farm sits in open countryside on the edge of the West Pennine Moors just outside Ramsbottom, a converted farm where the owners live on site and the walking starts at the gate. It is polished rather than rustic - hot tubs, an on-site spa doing hydrotherapy baths and treatments, apartments finished to a high standard - and it is well liked, holding 9.4/10 across nearly 400 guest reviews.

The thing to get right before you book is which unit you are in. Dogs are welcomed only in the two cottages, Homestead and Cascade, and not in the other apartments on the site, so booking the wrong one means arriving without your dog. Guests who have booked correctly describe a completely fuss-free welcome, couples arriving with two dogs and nobody making anything of it, and the doorstep walks are the reason to choose somewhere like this in the first place.

The standard inside is high and consistent: guests describe it as spotlessly clean and finished to a level they compare with a five-star hotel, and it is stocked with the small things - coffee, milk, butter, good toiletries, even an air fryer - that make a short self-catering break easy. The owners are on hand without hovering. The setting is properly rural, so it is worth arriving with your dog's food and supplies rather than counting on shops nearby.

Two things temper it. Sound carries between units, and that cuts both ways for a dog owner - guests have been woken early by a neighbour's plumbing and a dog barking upstairs, which is worth knowing if yours is vocal in an unfamiliar room. And the hot tub is charged separately, at a price several guests felt was steep for a few hours' use and did not see mentioned until after booking; access is shared rather than fully private, with the path to the next pod running past yours.

Brook Bottom Farm suits a couple or small group who want a smart, spa-style countryside retreat with moorland walks from the door, and who will book Homestead or Cascade specifically so the dog can come.