The Poacher Inn, South Warnborough

The Poacher Inn is a village pub with rooms on the Alton Road at South Warnborough, in the quiet Hampshire countryside between Odiham and Alton, and the dog welcome here is more thought-through than most pubs manage. Dogs arriving with their owners are met with a basket of toys to borrow and a handful of treats - the kind of small gesture that tells you a place has decided to be dog-friendly rather than simply allowing it.

No pet fee, dog limit or weight restriction is published on the booking listing, so settle those with the pub directly. What guests travelling with dogs describe is a consistently friendly team, comfortable rooms with a well-stocked tea tray, plenty of off-road parking so you are not walking a dog along a verge after a long drive, and a genuinely quiet setting.

The location suits a stopover more than a week's holiday. It sits within easy reach of Ascot, roughly half an hour away, and works as an affordable base for events there and around north Hampshire, with lanes and fields for walks straight from the door.

Two caveats are worth carrying. The upstairs corridor has been described as smelling strongly of dog, which is the flip side of a pub that takes a lot of them, so a sensitive nose may prefer a room on the ground floor. The restaurant menu has also turned out shorter in person than the version published online, and food has arrived fast enough for guests to wonder how it was cooked. Bedroom doors do not feel especially secure, and at least one mattress has been well past its best.

Best suited to dog owners wanting an inexpensive, quiet overnight in north Hampshire where the dog is actively welcomed, and who are here for the pub and the parking rather than the room.