Taking a dog to a park home: the rules nobody writes down
"Dog friendly" is the least reliable phrase in holiday letting. Here is what it means on these parks, including the parts that are inconvenient.
· 5 minute read
The short answer
Up to two dogs are welcome in most of the homes we let, charged as a single fee for the whole stay rather than per night, and shown in the price breakdown before you reach a payment page. Dogs are welcome in the home itself and on its private deck. The real restrictions are three: on a lead anywhere on the park, never in a hot tub, and never left alone in the home.
Why is the dog fee charged per stay rather than per night?
Because the work it pays for happens once. The home is cleaned to the same standard for the next guest whether or not a dog has been in it, and that costs more when one has. Charging per night would bill the same clean several times over.
It also means a fortnight costs the dog no more than a long weekend, which is the right way round: the dog that stays longer is not creating fourteen cleans.
Why can I not leave the dog in the home?
A dog alone in an unfamiliar single-storey building with people walking past the window barks, and the homes are close enough together that the next guest hears all of it. The rule exists because of complaints rather than because of policy writing.
For a day out, the park manager keeps numbers for local kennels and sitters. Ask at the start of the stay rather than the morning you need one.
Which homes will not take a dog?
One home currently taking bookings is adults-only and dog-free, and says so at the top of the listing. Tell the search how many dogs are coming and it removes homes that cannot take them, rather than letting you find out at the end.
That is worth doing even if it seems obvious. A party of six with a dog and a child has three separate reasons a particular home might be wrong, and the filters apply all three at once.
What is the walking actually like?
Fifty-two acres at Marwell Court, with the estate's own paths and the Hampshire lanes beyond. The coast path from Mill Park, which is spectacular and steep. The Derbyshire dales from Beechwood, with Chatsworth and Dovedale within a short drive.
Each park page carries the walks the park team use themselves, with distances, rather than a generic line about countryside on the doorstep.
What should we actually bring?
Bowls, bedding and towels, and more towels than you think. The homes have hard flooring through the living space and a utility cupboard that will take a wet coat and a wet dog, but no dog beds are provided and a dog sleeps better in its own.
There is no hose at every plot. Your dog will find the estuary at Mill Park. Plan for that.
Are dogs allowed on the nearby beaches?
Woolacombe and Croyde, the two beaches nearest Mill Park, restrict parts of the sand between May and September and have dog-friendly stretches at either end all year. The rules change and the signage is the authority.
Ask Mill Park rather than trusting a web page about it, including this one. They walk their own dogs there in the morning.
Questions people ask
How many dogs can I bring?
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Two. For three, telephone the park rather than guessing: it is sometimes possible in the larger homes, and the park manager decides rather than the website.
Are there breed or size restrictions?
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No breed restriction and no weight limit. The park rules ask only that dogs are kept on a lead on the park, are not left alone in the home, and are kept off the furniture and out of the hot tub.
Can the dog go in the hot tub?
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No. It is the one restriction nobody negotiates, and the reason the tub can be drained and sanitised between stays rather than deep-cleaned after some of them.
Will the fee be refunded if the dog does not come?
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Yes. Telephone the park before you arrive and it comes off, because the work it pays for will not now be done.
Are dogs allowed in the leisure facilities?
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Not indoors: pools, gyms and indoor play are dog-free. Outdoor areas and the paths are fine on a lead.