Sundial Cottage, Brassington

Brassington is the kind of Peak District village where the walk starts at the front door, and Sundial Cottage sits in the middle of it: a stone cottage with two wood burners, two sitting rooms and a terraced garden, on a lane a few minutes from the village pubs. Dog owners come back to it, several of them more than once, and the garden is the reason most of them give.

Up to two dogs are welcome. The property's booking listing publishes no fee, but a 2024 stay was charged £20 per dog, which put £40 on the bill for a pair, so ask what the current figure is when you book. Dogs have also been asked to stay downstairs, worth planning around if yours normally sleeps in the bedroom.

The garden is enclosed and secure, and dog owners say so consistently and in detail. It is one of the few small-cottage gardens where guests describe letting a dog out off the lead without thinking about it. It is terraced rather than lawned, though: patios and planting rather than grass, which suits a small or medium dog better than a large one that wants room to stretch out.

The village had two pubs that took dogs, but the picture has shifted. By spring 2025 one had closed and the other was serving food only from Thursday to Sunday, so check before you plan an evening around it. There is no shop in the village; Wirksworth is four miles off, and Carsington Water, with lakeside walks and a cafe, is about ten minutes by car. Dovedale, the Tissington Trail, Ashbourne, Matlock and Bakewell are all within half an hour. Haddon Hall admits no dogs at all, not even in the grounds.

The cottage is warmly and consistently reviewed, but not flawlessly. A winter stay found the heating switching off overnight, thin summer duvets and black dog hair in a child's bed, which is the thing a dog-friendly let has to get right every time. Parking is tight, with room for two cars only just, and the cottage takes some finding down narrow lanes after dark.

It earns a 4.8/5 paw rating from an unusually consistent run of dog-owning guests. Best suited to a couple or small family with one or two dogs who want a secure garden, walks from the door and a proper Peak District village around them.