The Fox at Willian

The Fox at Willian is a pub with rooms on the green of a small Hertfordshire village on the edge of Letchworth Garden City, and it is about as easy a place to arrive with a dog as a pub with rooms gets. Dogs are welcome in the bar and the adjoining restaurant, not just in the bedroom, which means you can eat both dinner and breakfast without leaving the dog behind. Guests travelling with dogs describe being handed dog beds, bowls and biscuits on arrival as a matter of course rather than as something they had to ask for, and dogs have been known to get a sausage with the breakfast order.

The room layout matters here more than the pet policy does. Several of the bedrooms sit at ground level with doors opening straight onto grass, no steps and no corridor, which suits an older dog, a dog that needs letting out at night, or anyone who would rather not walk a wet dog back through a bar. Dog owners who have stayed repeatedly single this out as the reason they come back. Walks start from the door, there is plenty of parking, and the village and its church make an easy short loop for a last thing at night.

The one thing to check before booking is which room you are in. The pub's kitchen extractor fan cycles on and off through much of the night and is audible in some rooms, and in others the staircase runs across the room above, so late arrivals and early risers carry. One room type also runs hot in summer, with air conditioning that cannot be adjusted and French doors as the only ventilation. Ear plugs are provided, which tells you the hotel knows. None of this concerns dogs directly, but a badly slept owner makes for a badly slept dog.

Housekeeping and food both draw consistently strong comment, and the staff are the reason most dog owners rate the place as highly as they do. It earns a 4.5/5 paw rating, and it is a particularly good choice for an overnight stop or a family visit where the dog needs to come into the bar rather than wait upstairs.