Inspiration

Our favourite dog-friendly cottages in the Cotswolds with great walks from your doorstep

Sawday's Expert

5 min read

What you want from a dog-friendly holiday is some fabulous walking and plenty of stick-throwing, with a beautiful place to come home to and stretch out for naps afterwards. If you don’t need the car to get to the trail, so much the better. The Cotswolds is a giant playground full of places that tick all those boxes. We’ve inspected every cottage in our collection, looking for creativity and character, as well as the creature comforts. So here are a few of our favourites to get you stomping into the countryside right from the front door and put a smile on your face when you come back.

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Bull Pen at Bibury Farm Barns

This old barn has been so beautifully done up that if Falcon, its former resident, were to wander in he’d be like a bovine in a high-end homeware outlet. The space just flows with an understated style and grace that put you instantly at ease. There are a number of exceptional gastro pubs and eateries nearby, but owners Polly and George recommend walking down into Bibury and along the river to Coln St Aldwyns for lunch at The New Inn, a round trip of about eight miles.

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Upper Barn

Chic and contemporary, but not so slick that you feel you have to watch every step of the dog’s paws, Upper Barn is a great place to relax until the urge to wander grips you or the dog drags you out. There’s a good seven-mile out and back that starts in Lower Slaughter then follows the river up to Slaughter Woods. You then have the option of curving round towards Maugersbury or stopping in lovely Stow-on-the-Wold before retracing your paw prints all the way back to the sofa.

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River Barn

Another classy space where modernity sits on tradition like cushions on a sofa, River Barn is the absolute dog’s best friend when it comes to walking. Wander straight out of the open plan barn conversion into a classic slice of the Cotswolds, where a footpath along the river Eye carries you past iconic stone cottages. There are plenty of stopping points for any length of leg or energy level, but a good long hike is the eight-mile route into Bourton-on-the-Water and round the Greystones Nature Reserve, although dogs will need to be on leads.

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The Old Swan

With the charming wonkiness of a Grade II listed building, The Old Swan welcomes you to the heart of a beautiful village. You could make some very short trips to great dog-friendly pubs, but there’s a lovely walk available to, and around, Westonbirt arboretum, a few miles away. There are some roads involved, but you can dodge most of them by leaving Sherston towards Easton Grey and turning off onto the footpath before you hit Tetbury road. Once you’re in Westonbirt, there are miles of pathways through the varying fauna to exhaust the dog on.

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Christopher Wilson-Elmes

Sawday's Expert

Chris is our in-house copywriter, with a flair for turning rough notes and travel tales into enticing articles. Raised in a tiny Wiltshire village, he was desperate to travel and has backpacked all over the world. Closer to home, he finds himself happiest in the most remote and rural places he can find, preferably with a host of animals to speak to, some waves to be smashed about in and the promise of a good pint somewhere in his future.

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