I wonder if I could ask for your opinions.

I'm thinking of buying a holiday cottage in North East Cornwall, right on (about 100m) a year round, dog friendly beach. It is also near various other beaches, some year round dog friendly and others accessible bar peak season.

I'm doing the figures and need to try to get as year round bookings as possible, rather than just the peak school holiday times and was thinking of marketing to fellow dog people (in the future, this is not an ad!).

Is there a demand for dog friendly lets amongst the dog show fraternity, or are we all too busy/ have caravans/ have too many dogs to want to take them on hols etc.?

Any opinions, gratefully received.

Thank you!

The reason I have a holiday home is so that I can take as many dogs as I choose.  But even I can't get 20 odd dogs in the car!  You will get loads of scenarios I'm sure.  We all have to cope with different challenges.  But I do have to have someone stay at my place while I'm off gallivanting.  Someone who is as dog mad as me.

There absolutely is.  There's a thread further down with people looking for places.  One which has 5 properties is already booked into next year.

What most people in the show fraternity are after is a place that will allow more than the usual 1-2 (I have 5), and if possible a bit of enclosed safe garden area to let the dogs out quickly into.  I don't even mind paying extra for the dogs, the ability to take them means an even more stress free holiday for us.

If you did do it I, for one, would be interested in the details

:)

As a member of the general dog owning public, I've always wanted to find a dog friendly holiday cottage close to a dog friendly beach. Talking to friends, they feel the same. It's why we have a motorhome and now have a static on the Suffolk coast, so we can take the dogs with us when we go away. Although that's most of the year taken up with either of them, there is still a period of time when the static site is closed for the season and we don't fancy going away in the small motorhome with a large and hairy, likely to get wet, dog.
If you look on dog forums, there is quite likely to be a sticky somewhere about dog friendly holiday places, so there is a need. I think it's a goer. However if your finances dictate that it must be full the entire year, I wonder if the occasions it doesn't work out will make or break you. Weather in this country dictates strongly when people choose to holiday and many are less likely to want to holiday during January or February. Fantastic idea though,

Yes please

Thank you for your advice!

The place I'm considering, only has a tiny amount of its own outdoor space (which I'd look to make secure).  Enough for dogs sitting about during the day, but they would need to be taken out for a wee etc. The beach is about 100m away and there is dog friendly headland even closer.

Would the lack of a proper garden be a show stopper, or would the vast amount of dog accessible space, so close,  be sufficient?

Thanks.

The set up you describe would suit me fine, Hants - dogs will be walked anyway, just want it secure to leave doors open.

M.

Sounds great. I would be interested.

>Weather in this country dictates strongly when people choose to holiday and many are less likely to want to holiday during January or February. Fantastic idea though,

On the other hand January and February is the quietest time in the dog showing calendar (at least champ shows), and there are fewest dog restrictions in holiday areas in off season.

So you are likely to suffer less from the holiday season highs and lows as you do with ordinary holiday makers who are more governed by school holidays etc.

Yes please - especially if you will accept several dogs and have an enclosed space for them to play in during fine days.  I'm certain you'll gets lots of bookings.  You often see people posting on here asking for suitable places to take several dogs.

Good luck

Lack of proper garden wouldn't be a show stopper for us, as long as there is a place to let them out to do their business safely when we're not out with them, middle of the night, early mornings etc.  Part of the problem of places not having somewhere enclosed is that in the middle of the night (when one of ours has 'old lady bladder') leashing them up all to go out, trundling down the road (or through a hotel) etc, by the time you've done that once or twice (as 5 at once is a nightmare) you're awake.  The ease of being able to open the door in the middle of the night to do a quick 'potty' run is a must for us.  But it doesn't have to be big.

Some breeds are so wonderful they can be off lead anywhere and be fine to just go out the door, and back in.  Not so with the whippets I'm afraid.  Having places nearby they can run is great though.