this year we are going abroad for our holidays - was booked before the pup and so he’s going back to his breeder, who kindly offered to have him, for 2 weeks. She works her dogs so he will tag along with her for the most part. Anyway this takes us to plans for next year - Maslow will be about 17 months old and so we are toying with the idea of renting a large camper van for 2 weeks and taking the 2 dogs with us. So I guess we are looking for recommendations. Leo will be 13 by then so we aren’t going to be hiking! But I’m hoping for some lovely walks, maybe a beach or 2 - somewhere me and OH can relax and just enjoy the dogs and the views! Any recommendations? I blame @Emily_BabbelHund for this
Skye is beautiful, but we went in August and it was 8 degrees C and raining the entire time, still beautiful and remote but we were classing it by the end as a ‘good winter break’ but we are flimsy southerners so you may be made of sterner stuff than us. We have had lovely doggy holidays in Pembrokeshire, Devon and the Lake District.
Ooh the Lake District sounds good! I’ve always wanted to go to the new forest as well! I’m originally from Essex and cannot stand being cold
We have just had a week in Suffolk camping and some camper vans on our site. Beautiful unspoilt, almost empty beaches (early June). Our young Lab is just 18 months and Sky is 11. Sky has arthritis and is definitely not able to do what she used to. She was quite slow on walks and we couldn’t do the long walks we perhaps would have liked to. However, she was ok on a 6 mile round walk if it meant the beach and sea being part of that - she became positively youthful there, bless her. We just took our time, lots of stops. It was all great for Red as she had loads of off lead time, lots of running on the beaches. We did say though that our next holidays with both, we will need to consider Sky’s mobility more in our planning. Fortunately a busy morning, meant a very lazy afternoon and evening so lots of relaxation for all .
The Lake District is beautiful & very dog-friendly. The Isle of Mas is just stunning - beaches, glens & moors - but them I'm incredibly biased! Can be pricey to get here though, but well worth it IMO. We are becoming more and more dog-friendly.
Before you book anywhere check that the beaches are dog friendly between May and Sept as a lot aren't. We are taking ours to Pembrokeshire this year. He will be 9 months by then. There are a few places we cannot go with him, though, but we know enough where we can.
Come to Scotland - only a handful of beaches are ever out of bounds even in summer and we have much better public access rights. Can't even think where to start. Our very own Fife beaches....this is Tentsmuir Or maybe the Dornoch Firth higher up? Or Macrihanish in the west? And a plethora of forestry commission sites everywhere. What about the North Coast 500? https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/tours/driving-road-trips/north-coast-500/ (just maybe pass on taking a camper van up the Bealach na Ba road to Applecross though the views are stunning, the road is literally hairpin - bad enough in a car. I love Scotland. And its rain, damp, midges and all it's other faults - the scenery trumps it all.
We adore Scotland and have had two amazing holidays there, the scenery is absolutely spectacular, never seen anything like it anywhere I have been in the world. We stayed in Loch side houses all super dog friendly. Hattie & Charlie had the time of their lives. We love it so much we are moving there!! x
I continue to be rather amazed at how dog-friendly Cornwall is, though I can't imagine how crowded it must get in high season so it depends on when you are going. There are tons of beaches which are dog-friendly year-round. There also seems to be a good inventory of dog-friendly accommodations if you decide not to go the camper-van route. Personally, Scotland sounds great... I'd love to try that out. You all are giving me good ideas! Near and dear to my heart is Ireland, which no one in the UK seems to think of or visit but has spectacular beaches and about the same likelihood of good weather as Scotland - that is to say not much, but that doesn't stop it being beautiful. Dingle is my favourite area but any coastal area is great, especially the wilder western coast. The plus side vs the UK is nearly zero traffic (or even humans) outside of the main cities and a lot more loosey-goosey on rules (free parking, free public WCs, most beaches dog-friendly even if not posted). Accommodation in general (dog or no dog) is a little harder to come by simply because there's less of it, but if you reserve ahead of time you can get some great places. My only reservation about Ireland is that the attitude towards dogs is different than the UK in that the rescue scene is more dire and you are more likely to run across loose dogs that have either been abandoned or simply let out to roam for the day by their humans. Even further afield but accessible directly from the UK via dog-friendly ferry is northern Spain (Asturias) which is not crowded and has gorgeous beaches. In season (July/Aug) dog-friendly beaches will be harder to come by, but I just came through there with my two foster dogs in June and we had no problem at the largely empty beaches. Also a nice selection of dog-friendly accommodations (hotels and flats/cottages) at much lower prices than the UK. So many options!
