Blogs About Dogs

Ashdown Forest inspired the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and Poohsticks Bridge is a regular stop for families who bring the dog. The Forest’s own dog walking guidance is practical: keep your dog with you and in sight, let it off the lead only if you’re confident in its recall, and put it on a lead and step

Gibraltar Point is a coast where the date matters. The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust bans dogs from the beach and foreshore from 1 April to 1 September, and asks for a short lead on the beach the rest of the year. Dogs on the reserve itself should be on a lead too, as grazing livestock are

Kenilworth Castle is an easy day out with a dog: English Heritage allows dogs on leads. The Elizabethan Garden there is a recreation of the one Robert Dudley made for Elizabeth I’s visit in 1575, so you get a proper ruin and a garden with a story. Check English Heritage’s website before you go, as

Lambs return to the Malvern Hills each spring, and with them comes a reminder from the Malvern Hills Trust that any dog, big or small, can chase or kill livestock. Its simple answer is a lead whenever grazing animals are near, and it says it may report dogs worrying livestock to the police. In its

Cannock Chase is adder country. Staffordshire County Council describes it as one of the region’s key refuges for the species, and asks walkers to stay on designated paths and keep dogs on leads in spring to protect adders and ground-nesting birds. Bites are rare, because adders usually avoid people and dogs, but if a dog

Thetford Forest sits on the Suffolk and Norfolk border, and Forestry England calls it the largest lowland man-made forest in England. It was first planted in the 1920s to rebuild the nation’s timber supply after the First World War. For a dog that means pine, sandy tracks and a lot of ground to cover. Rules

Grey seals haul out on the beach at Horsey, on the Norfolk coast, and pups arrive from late October into January. It’s a wonderful sight, and it’s also the reason dog owners need to read the rules: the charity Friends of Horsey Seals asks owners to keep dogs on leads whenever seals are nearby, and

Ashridge Estate, on the Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire border, is the sort of place where a dog can go from woodland to open chalk hillside in one walk. The National Trust warns that wild deer can appear anywhere on the estate at any time, so if your dog is off the lead it needs to be

Windsor Great Park is a lovely place to spend a morning with a dog. The park’s own guidance says well-behaved dogs are welcome in the park and forest, but some areas, including the Deer Park, are on-lead only, so it pays to look at the park map before you set off. Figo would happily ignore

On a breezy day the ridge at Dunstable Downs fills with people flying kites, and it’s easy to see why. This National Trust site is known for its rolling chalk grassland and sweeping views across the Aylesbury Vale, and dogs are welcome on the Downs, though they need to be on leads inside the visitor