Dog-Friendly Weekends: Cotswolds (25 breaks for you and your dog)

New from Bradt is Dog-friendly Cotswolds, written by canine-travel expert Lottie Gross (author of Bradt’s best-selling Dog-friendly Weekends), who proposes 25 excursions and holiday ideas for dog lovers in this popular English region just 60 miles from London – from city breaks to outdoorsy days, from characterful campsites to pubs welcoming furry friends. Although bringing dogs into Britain might prove tricky if you do not want them to fly in the hold, for those willing to fly with their pet in the cabin into Ireland and hop across the Irish Sea on a ferry, the Cotswolds is a spectacular place to start any exploration of Britain with a dog. The Cotswolds has endless appeal for any traveller thanks to its handsome, golden-hued villages and bucolic landscapes. But for dog owners, it is especially enchanting. Rolling hills criss-crossed by well-marked footpaths, including the 102-mile-long Cotswolds Way National Trail, make this prime walking country, and with a healthy smattering of incredible dog-friendly pubs and hotels across the region, it’s the perfect destination for a fresh-air-filled break with your pet. It's not all about walking here, though – the Cotswolds’ beautiful towns and villages are home to as many dogs as visitors bring in, so shops and restaurants cater well for the canine-accompanied. There are also myriad attractions that welcome dogs alongside people, from the Cotswold Motoring Museum in Bourton-on-the-Water (which also hosts a duck race in July and river football match in August) to Cotswold Farm Park and steam trains. Energetic activities abound too, from canoeing on the River Thames to propelling a pedalo around the Cotswold Water Park, while cultural highlights include castles, Neolithic stone circles and Roman remains. Beyond the boundaries of this much-loved National Landscape are some of the UK’s most exciting urban centres, which are perfect for rainy days, cultural enrichment or fine dining: there’s Oxford, home of literary greats, to the southeast, Bristol and Bath in the south, and Gloucester, Cheltenham and Worcester at the northwest reaches. Stratford-upon-Avon also sits on the fringes of the Cotswolds, offering excursions into Shakespeare’s world to complement meanders along its river.