SCOT FREE
It has to be the most dramatic urban space in the UK – Holyrood Park is a bit of the Highlands stranded in Edinburgh. It’s where you’ll find Holyrood Palace, but it’s the park’s astonishing topography that’s the lure: volcanic cliff faces, vertiginous paths and mini-lochs, all within striking distance of the city’s pubs and cafés.
Dogs love rambling through the gorse and racing up to Arthur’s Seat. And if you like it now, head back for the Holyrood Fun Dog Show, usually held in August, with its prizes for “biscuit catching”.
NORTHERN LIGHTS
With its coastline and green hills, Northern Ireland is canine heaven, and within Belfast, Ormeau Park is an oasis of woodland, wildlife and walkies. It’s a leisure honeypot for Belfast’s citizens, with all manner of sports on tap but, most importantly, a fantastic array of trees, paths and playmates for carousing canines. And it’s close to Ormeau Road, one of the city’s most up-and-coming arteries.
YORKSHIRE YOMPING
There’s plenty of room to roam around Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal: 790 dog-cheering acres. The ruin of the magnificent Cistercian abbey is the centrepoint of a remarkable 18th-century landscaped garden, featuring a winter garden, wooded valley sides, a tunnel and stepping stones across a lake by a waterfall.
Dogs welcomed on short leads only. Enclosed dog walk and WC at visitor centre. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, Yorkshire (01765 608888; www.fountainsabbey.org.uk).
DAY-TRIPPER
Go to Liverpool’s famous Penny Lane and you can’t miss it: Sefton Park, an historic green space in the south of the city. Once the Royal Deer Park of Toxteth, it then became the property of the Earl of Sefton; now surrounded by housing, it still maintains a glorious sense of space.
The distinctive layout includes curved paths, large green spaces, two streams, an artificial lake and various follies, including the grand Palm House. The bandstand is said to be the inspiration for the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. There’s a café in the park, but a fun idea is to walk to nearby Lark Lane, one of Liverpool‘s richest café/bar zones.
EASTERN PROMISE
At the top end of Norfolk, not far from the incredible expanse of Holkham beach (which welcomes dogs on leads) is Blickling Hall – a vast Jacobean pile with lovely gardens. With oodles of herbaceous borders, it’s a controlled riot of colour at most times of the year, and a cornucopia of sound and scent for your dog.
The garden dates from the 17th century, and has three radiating avenues, with a woodland wilderness and a formal garden in front of the vast house, with steps, balustrades, urns and topiary. There’s even an artificial hill, important in flat Norfolk to provide views.
Blickling is not without its ghouls: while on walkies, watch out for Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, whose headless spirit sometimes perambulates the estate. Dogs welcomed on leads in the park and woods. Blickling Hall, Norwich, Norfolk (01263 738030; www.nationaltrust.org.uk).
CAPITAL CANINE
Once a hunting ground for Henry VIII, Hyde Park is London’s most famous Royal Park. Within striking distance of the museums of Kensington and the shopping in Notting Hill, Knightsbridge and the West End, it has so much to offer you could spend a weekend there.
There’s the Serpentine, where the hardy swim (watch out for duck chasing), Rotten Row, where horses ride, and the Serpentine Gallery, which always has a few dogs awaiting their owners outside. Add the rolling grassland and the formal Kensington Gardens – plus the fascinating if poignant Dogs’ Cemetery – and you’ve got a whole world of canine captivation.
GREEN GRASS OF HOME
Where else can you see salmon and trout leap in the middle of a British city? Cardiff’s Bute Park brings the wildlife of Wales right into the city, courtesy of thousands of trees and the fast-flowing River Taff.
Here, you and your dog are bang in the centre of the underrated Welsh capital, close to the fantastic Victoriana of the restored Cardiff Castle, free to roam and picnic in the Capability Browndesigned Castle Green. See if he responds to the amazing Animal Wall: a Grade Ilisted Victorian curiosity topped with animal sculptures. Afterwards, the bars and cafés of trendy Pontcanna are yours for the taking. And keep an eye on local listings: Bute Park.
ARCADIAN FIRE
One of the loveliest of English gardens, Stourhead is ablaze with reds and yellows in autumn – like an 18th- century landscape painting. For dogs, it’s a varied walk with woodlands, water, grasslands and downs.
Afterwards, relax at the Spread Eagle pub. Dogs welcomed on short leads in the landscape garden (Nov 1-Jan 31) and under close control all year on wider estate; they are not admitted to the house or King Alfred’s Tower. Stourhead, Warminster, Wiltshire (01747 841152; www.nationaltrust.org.uk)
RAMPANT ROMP
As befits the model for Kirren Castle in Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books, Corfe Castle is absurdly picturesque. With the early Norman ruin looming skywards from the higgledy-piggledy skyline of Corfe village, it’s a wonderful place to take your dog.
Wander round the ruins, spread out your rug on the chalky ground, then finish off the perfect day with a stroll on the beach on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. Dogs welcomed on leads only. Corfe Castle, Wareham (01929 481294; www.nationaltrust.org.uk).
DOG HAUNT
High above the River Tamar in Cornwall, Cotehele is a lovely spot: a medieval house surrounded by miles of riverside, valley gardens and woodland walks. Trace the steeply terraced garden down to the working watermill and rest awhile at the Quay, where a tearoom and art gallery will offer a refreshing bowl of water and a hot beverage.
At the house itself, see if your pet picks up any odd vibrations: Cotehele – the classic olde English manor with stone walls, armour and tapestries – has a reputation for ghosts. It’s nothing too sinister, just the odd transparent figure, bursts of spectral music and strange scents from the other side, but as canine antennae are said to be sensitive, your pet just might come over all Scooby-Doo. Dogs welcomed under close control on woodland walks only. Cotehele, Cornwall (01579 351346; www.nationaltrust.org.uk).
