Visiting Charlecote Park with your dog

Dogs on a walk at Charlecote Park — Bring your dog for a day out at Charlecote Park | © Annapurna Mellor

Exploring the parkland with your four-legged friend is a great way to enjoy Charlecote Park. We welcome well-behaved dogs on short leads, along the designated dog walking routes. Discover the dog-friendly café and find out where you can and can’t go with your dog at Charlecote Park.

Our pawprint rating system

We’ve been working on making it easier for you to find out how dog-friendly your visit will be before you and your four-legged friend arrive. To help with this, we've created a new pawprint rating system and given all the places in our care a rating. You can find this information in the National Trust members’ handbook.

Charlecote Park is a two-pawprint rated place.

These places have water bowls, dog bins and dog-friendly walks. You’ll be able to take your dog into some areas, but not everywhere. If there’s a food and beverage outlet, you can have a cup of tea and nibble with them, inside or outside. Read on to discover exactly where you can take your dog.

Where can my dog go?

Charlecote Park is home to grazing livestock and is teeming with wildlife, so we've set up special dog-walking routes around the parkland to help give you space to enjoy the outdoors and other animals the freedom to roam. Please only use a short lead (2 - 3 metres) when visiting with your dog, as long leads can disturb the grazing livestock and wildlife.

The routes can take between 20 minutes to an hour, depending on your chosen route and walking pace. They're perfect for either a short walk or relaxed, longer visit. Please remember to keep your dog on a short lead at all times.

Charlecote's dog-friendly café and restaurant

Dogs are welcome in the Wood Yard café, both inside the café and in the courtyard, as well as in the Orangery restaurant.

Download the Dog Walking Map

A dog on a lead sits patiently next to its owner with a bowl of water at Dinefwr, Carmarthenshire, Wales — Your four-legged friend can join you at the Wood Yard café and Orangery restaurant | © National Trust Images/James Dobson

The Canine Code

We’ve worked with our partner Forthglade to come up with this Canine Code, which helps to make sure everyone can enjoy their day:

Keep them close: using a short lead helps to keep your dog from disturbing ground-nesting birds and farm animals. It's essential to use a short lead around sheep. But if cattle approach you, it's best to let your dog off the lead, and call them back when it's safe to do so.
Pick up the poo: please always clear up after your dog. If you can't find a bin nearby, take the poo bags home with you.
Watch the signs: keep an eye on local signs and notices wherever you're walking. They'll tell you if a beach has a dog ban, for instance, or if a path has been diverted, or if you're in an area where dogs can run off-lead.
Stay on the ball: remember that not everyone loves dogs, and some people fear them. So make sure your dog doesn't run up to other people, especially children.

Facilities available for my dog

You'll find several water bowls for your dog dotted around outside some of the main buildings at Charlecote, including the shop, visitor reception and the Gatehouse. Do let us know if you spot that they need topping up.

There are tether points attached to the picnic benches in the Wood Yard so your pup can stay in sight and reserve your spot while you grab your order from the café. Leaving your pup for any length of time can be distressing, so please hurry back.

Short leads and dog poo bags are available from visitor reception for you to use if you've forgotten to bring any. There are plenty of dog poo bins located around the route to help you keep Charlecote Park clean.

Where can't my dog go?

Space is restricted in the house, outbuildings and second-hand bookshop, so only assistance dogs are allowed inside at these places. Please make sure they are wearing an identity harness.

If you’d like to visit inside the house, please bear in mind that there isn’t anywhere to leave your dog while you go inside. If you are visiting with another person, you can take turns visiting the house while the other person walks the dog outside. Parts of the gardens are very narrow and so only open to assistance dogs.

No dogs are allowed in West Park (over the bridge) as it’s close to the deer sanctuary.

There are three bodies of water at Charlecote Park comprising two rivers and a lake. If you cross a body of water, then you've stepped outside one of the designated dog walking areas.

Safety first

The water can be very appealing for some, but the rivers are fast flowing and we ask you not to let your dog swim in any of the rivers or the lake at Charlecote.

Keeping control of your dog

Our definition of close or effective control is:

Being able to recall your dogs in any situation at the first call
Being able to clearly see your dog at all times (not just knowing they have gone into the undergrowth or over the crest of the hill). In practice, this means keeping them on a footpath if the surrounding vegetation is too dense for your dog to be visible
Not allowing them to approach other visitors without their consent
Having a lead with you to use if you encounter livestock or wildlife, or if you are asked to use one