Ask Devon for a hot tub, an enclosed garden and a written dog allowance all at once and the county contracts to one corner of itself. Every property below stands within about nine miles of the others, gathered where the Taw and the Torridge run out to sea: four at Westward Ho!, three in Appledore, two each in Instow and Braunton, and one lodge further north above Woolacombe. Dartmoor does not appear. Neither does anything on the south coast. That is a limit worth stating at the top rather than burying, because the same concentration is what makes the list usable.
All twelve are drawn from our directory of places to stay, and every one of them clears three bars: a garden the owners describe as enclosed in their own words, a dog allowance written down as a number, and open ground near enough to empty an animal out before anybody climbs into hot water. The allowances run from one dog to four. The houses run from a single bedroom lodge for two to a beach house for ten. What nearly all of them share is Northam Burrows at one end of the estuary and Braunton Burrows at the other, both common land, both open to dogs the whole year.
The Bay, Westward Ho
Four dogs is the allowance, and nothing else in this guide comes near it. The Bay sleeps eight over three floors at Westward Ho!, four bathrooms divided between them, with an enclosed garden at the back and the hot tub set into one corner. The gate onto Northam Burrows, common land that stays open to dogs all year, is two hundred metres from the front door, which is the single fact that justifies the dog number.
The burrows are grazed, so ponies and sheep are out on parts of them and recall counts for more than it would in a fenced park. Three floors also means stairs, worth a thought for an older animal, though the ground floor has been laid out around mess: you come in at the bottom to the kitchen and dining room with the utility beside it, washing machine and tumble dryer standing ready, and a games room next door with a pool table for the hours when the tide is wrong.
- Sleeps: 8 across 4 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 4
- Hot tub: Yes, in the corner of the enclosed garden
- Enclosed garden: Yes, with a shed for crabbing nets
- Nearest dog beach: Westward Ho! Beach, 1.1 miles
- Best for: Two families with a dog apiece and common land at the end of the street
Tides At Instow
A private gate at the end of the garden opens onto the dunes, and beyond them lie the estuary sand and the old railway path. Three dogs are welcome, eight people sleep across four bedrooms, and the practical effect of that gate is that nothing gets clipped onto a lead in a street before the day starts. The building went up in 2020 and handles wet accordingly: a hall for coats and boots, a utility off the kitchen with its own sink, and a shower outside running hot next to a hut for the boards.
The estuary is the catch as much as the draw. At low water the sand where the two rivers meet is wide, firm and close to empty; at high water it is simply not there, so a week here gets planned around a tide table. Our nearest proper dog beach, Westward Ho!, is 3.7 miles round by road, while the Tarka Trail towards Fremington Quay starts under two and stays flat the whole way.
- Sleeps: 8 across 4 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 3
- Hot tub: Yes, in the enclosed garden
- Enclosed garden: Yes, with a private gate through to the dunes
- Dog facilities: Stair gate, outdoor hot shower
- Best for: Two families who want the sand reached without starting the car
Hartnolls Lodge Woolacombe
This is the one entry that leaves the estuary behind. Hartnolls stands above Woolacombe, further north along the same coast, a one bedroom lodge sleeping two that takes three dogs regardless. Everything sits on a single plane. Sliding doors run out of the lounge into a fenced rear garden holding decking, a lawn and a charcoal barbecue, and the tub is out there with no step up to reach it, a detail that only announces itself at eleven at night in November.
Two limitations, both plain. One bedroom means two people, so no amount of generosity in the dog number turns this into a group house. And unlike the estuary properties there is no pub listed inside a mile, which makes an evening meal a drive down into the village or a supermarket stop on the way in. Set against that, Woolacombe sand is 1.6 miles off and the Morte Point circuit begins a little past it.
- Sleeps: 2 in 1 bedroom
- Dogs welcome: 3
- Hot tub: Yes, level access from the decking
- Enclosed garden: Yes, decked, with a lawn and a barbecue
- Nearest walk: Morte Point and Bull Point Circular, 1.8 miles
- Best for: A couple travelling with a full pack
A La Mer, Appledore
The garden at A La Mer is crossed to rather than stepped into. A bridge runs from the lounge doors over into ground that climbs behind the house in tiers, hot tub terrace on the lower level and lawn above it. Eight sleep in four bedrooms on the entrance floor, four bathrooms among them, and three dogs come too. A shower plumbed hot and cold sits off to one side of the garden, which is where sandy animals get put back to their proper colour before anybody opens a door.
Access is the thing to weigh. The garden arrives either over that bridge or up external steps at the side, and neither route is level, so a dog with bad hips will find this harder work than the single storey houses further down. The return is the position at the top of the village, with the lanes and the quay below, the Torridge going silver under the terrace in the evening, and Westward Ho! opening out 2.4 miles along the coast.
- Sleeps: 8 across 4 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 3
- Hot tub: Yes, on the lower garden terrace
- Enclosed garden: Yes, tiered, reached by a bridge or side steps
- Dog facilities: Outdoor hot and cold shower
- Best for: A big group in a village that can be walked into
Westlands, Braunton
Thirty nine miles of level, traffic free trail pass the bottom of this garden, which settles the question of what to do with three dogs before breakfast. Westlands sleeps ten across five bedrooms on the edge of Braunton, and the gardens are the dog friendly part of it: gated, flat, and wrapped the whole way round the building, so an animal works a full lap and comes back to whichever door somebody left open. A hot tub stands in one aspect, a garden bar with its own changing room in another.
Ten people and three dogs is the largest arrangement here and it needs the house it has, which is why the drying room, the ground floor bedroom beside a WC and the third bathroom all matter. The trade is that the sand is not walkable. Saunton is 3.1 miles off and Croyde beyond it, so beach days are driving days, though the trail at the gate asks nobody to move a car at all.
- Sleeps: 10 across 5 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 3
- Hot tub: Yes, in the gated garden
- Enclosed garden: Yes, level, wrapping the house
- Dog facilities: Drying room
- Best for: A large party that would rather have a trail at the gate than sand
Sunset Bay - Appledore
Bowls, blankets, treats and a roll of bags are already waiting on the floor, which says how seriously the place takes the three dogs it permits. Six sleep at Sunset Bay in a reverse level house above Appledore, the living space on top with windows on three sides and a deck that looks from Westward Ho! round to Saunton Sands. Underneath it, two of the three bedrooms open by patio doors onto the rear garden, made secure and holding the hot tub, a wide lawn and a shed for wet kit.
The compromise waits outside the gate rather than inside it. Appledore's lanes were laid out long before cars and still behave that way, so the walk down into the village is a loose lead job rather than a free run, and the closest open sand is Westward Ho! at 2.5 miles. In exchange you get a village reachable on foot, a working quay, and a seasonal ferry across the water to Instow.
- Sleeps: 6 across 3 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 3
- Hot tub: Yes, in the enclosed garden
- Enclosed garden: Yes, fully secure, with two bedrooms opening onto it
- Dog facilities: Dog bowls, secure field
- Best for: Three dogs and an evening that needs no driving
Fairways - Appledore
A dog can walk a circuit of Fairways and arrive back at the door it came out of, because the enclosed garden runs the whole way round the building. Eight people sleep in four bedrooms on one floor, two of them en suite with a third bathroom besides, and three dogs are welcome. Decking and the hot tub sit outside with the lawn past them, while the garage has been turned into a ten seat cinema, which is where the last hours of a long day usually go.
Level ground is the reason to book it, but the claim is not quite absolute: a couple of steps take you in at the front, so call it step free once you are through the door. Nothing beyond that asks anyone to climb, dogs included. Westward Ho! sand is 2.2 miles away with Northam Burrows in between, flat grazed common where a full circuit involves no ascent whatsoever.
- Sleeps: 8 across 4 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 3
- Hot tub: Yes, on the decking
- Enclosed garden: Yes, wrapping the entire property
- Layout: Single storey, all four bedrooms on one floor
- Best for: Stiff old dogs, stiff old knees and a house with no staircase
Mondeville, Westward Ho
The garage is the room that earns this one its place. A pool table and a dartboard fill one end, a washing machine and tumble dryer the other, and a basin is plumbed in beside them, so three dogs and a week of sodden towels get dealt with before any of it reaches the house. Eight sleep across four ground floor bedrooms, two opening by French doors into the garden, and the living floor sits above with the sea filling the windows and a snug off to the side.
Three dogs at this size is one more than most houses of the kind concede, and the rear garden is generous enough to hold them, with a table, a barbecue and the tub in the corner. What it does not have is walking at the end of the road. Our nearest trail, the Tarka Trail at Fremington Quay, is 4.8 miles off, the longest drive to one in this guide, and the sand is 0.7 miles down through the town, which of course means coming back up it.
- Sleeps: 8 across 4 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 3
- Hot tub: Yes, in the corner of the rear garden
- Enclosed garden: Yes, with two bedrooms opening onto it
- Nearest dog beach: Westward Ho! Beach, 0.7 miles
- Best for: A shared family week with the sand at the bottom of the hill
Rock Pools - Westward Ho!
Hot water is piped to a shower on the back wall, and after an afternoon on the pebble ridge with two dogs that one fitting changes the whole shape of an evening. Rock Pools sleeps four and runs reverse level, with underfloor heating through the ground floor where both bedrooms are. The king has an en suite and French doors straight into the enclosed rear garden, which is the door a dog learns first, and the tub stands on that same ground.
Four people and two dogs is the ceiling, so this belongs at the small end of the list and reads as a couple's house rather than a family one. Anyone arriving with three animals should be looking at Hartnolls or the Appledore properties instead. What the smaller footprint buys is a better finish: heated floors that dry a sleeping dog, that outdoor shower, and a balcony above looking over Northam Burrows with the sand 1.2 miles past it.
- Sleeps: 4 across 2 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 2
- Hot tub: Yes, in the enclosed rear garden
- Enclosed garden: Yes, off the main bedroom's French doors
- Dog facilities: Outdoor hot shower, underfloor heating
- Best for: Two people and two dogs in a house built to cope with wet
Byewood, Braunton
Byewood is a refurbished two bedroom cottage for four in Braunton, each bedroom with a bathroom of its own, open plan below with a wood burner. The enclosed portion of the garden is the decking, laid out with seating and a gas barbecue, and an outbuilding swallows bikes, boards and laundry. Saunton Sands is 2.4 miles west with Croyde a little past it, and Braunton Burrows behind the first of them is a dune system big enough to lose most of an afternoon inside.
Two things narrow it. The tub is not on the enclosed ground: it stands beyond the decking across a grassed area shared with the owners, so somebody walks over while the dogs stay behind on the deck side. And the cottage is adults only, with nobody under twelve on site, which pins it at the two couples and two dogs pitch and takes a family week off the table entirely.
- Sleeps: 4 across 2 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 2
- Hot tub: Yes, private, across the grass from the decking
- Enclosed garden: The decked area, with seating and a gas barbecue
- Fire: Wood burner
- Best for: Two couples and two dogs within reach of Saunton and Croyde
Pebbleridge Beach House, Westward Ho
There is a cricket ground below the balcony, and past it the burrows, the beach and the sea, so an afternoon at Pebbleridge can be spent without anybody going anywhere. The house runs upside down. Three bedrooms take the ground floor, a bunk room among them, with the bathroom and the washing machine down there as well, so whatever a wet dog and a wet child carry in stops on that level. Above is one long room with the view in it.
The enclosed garden faces the front rather than the back, looking onto the cricket, which is worth picturing in advance if your dog holds strong views about passing strangers. Two dogs against six beds is the other constraint, so a family bringing an animal each will come up short. The sand at Westward Ho! is 1.1 miles off, and Bideford quay sits upriver where the Lundy boat goes out in season.
- Sleeps: 6 across 3 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 2
- Hot tub: Yes, in the enclosed front garden
- Enclosed garden: Yes, at the front, with a patio
- Also: Bunk room downstairs and a balcony off the lounge
- Best for: A family with small children and one or two dogs
Beach Ahoy Instow
Underfloor heating runs the length of the ground floor here, and the member of the party who will get most out of it is the dog coming back off the estuary. The hall holds boots with a WC off it, and the utility has a back door opening straight into the garden, so the wet things land at the right end of the house. That rear garden is enclosed, with a patio, furniture and a barbecue, and a private tub standing in the middle of the grass.
One dog only, which is the tightest allowance in this guide and takes the house away from most multi dog households at a stroke. For a single animal it is hard to argue with: the village is two minutes on foot, the ferry to Appledore leaves the quay in season, and the Tarka Trail runs level past the end of the road. The estuary sand is the best of the walking, wide and hard underfoot, but only once the tide has gone out.
- Sleeps: 6 across 3 bedrooms
- Dogs welcome: 1
- Hot tub: Yes, in the middle of the enclosed rear garden
- Enclosed garden: Yes, with a back door out of the utility room
- Also: Underfloor heating throughout the ground floor
- Best for: One dog, six people and a village at the edge of the sand
Practical Advice for Booking a Hot Tub Stay in North Devon
The tub itself is almost never what goes wrong. On this stretch of coast, these are:
- Read the dog number against the bed number. Six of the twelve sleep eight or more, and only one of those allows four dogs. Two of the largest houses here stop at two.
- Ask where the tub actually stands. At Byewood it sits outside the enclosed decking, across grass the owners share. That is fine once you know it and a nuisance if you do not.
- Work out how you reach the garden. A bridge, external side steps, French doors off a bedroom and level decking are four very different things at midnight with a wet animal.
- Learn the tide before you book the week. Estuary sand at Instow and Appledore is the best walking here and it disappears twice a day. Northam Burrows and the beach at Westward Ho! do not have that problem.
- Northam Burrows is grazed common. Ponies and sheep are out on parts of it, so recall matters more than it would inside a country park with gates.
- Dogs and hot tubs are a bad pairing. Treated water does them no good and claws do liners no good either. The enclosed garden is the thing you are booking, not the water.
Map of Dog Friendly Hot Tub Cottages in Devon
Twelve properties inside about nine miles of one another, from a single bedroom lodge above Woolacombe down to a beach house for ten on the edge of Braunton. Opening the map is the quickest way to see which of them sit on the estuary, which face the open Atlantic, and how far each one really is from the common ground at either end of the water.
11 stays on this pageMap these stays, and thousands more
The Wildpack Map plots every dog friendly walk, beach, stay and attraction we have listed across the UK. Open it to see what else is within reach in Devon, filter by what your dog needs, and get directions to the car park.
What's Nearby?
For the walking and the coast surrounding any of the twelve, start here:
- Dog friendly beaches in Devon: Westward Ho!, Saunton and the rest of the coast most of these weeks get booked for.
- Dog friendly walks in Devon: Coast path, woodland and moor, including the Tarka Trail sections running past Instow and Braunton.
- Dog friendly walks in Exmoor National Park: The high ground east of Braunton, for a day with rather more climb in it than the estuary offers.
- Dog friendly cottages with hot tubs across the UK: The same three tests applied nationally, if North Devon is not where you were heading.
- The Atlantic Highway road trip: The A39 heading west out of Bideford towards Clovelly and the Cornish border.
Every bookable property in the county also sits on our page of dog friendly places to stay in Devon.
Final Thoughts
North Devon works for this particular combination, and the reason has little to do with hot water. Northam Burrows at one end of the estuary and Braunton Burrows at the other are both common land, both open to dogs through the whole year, and both large enough to properly empty an animal before anyone thinks about getting in. Every house above sits within a few miles of one or the other, which is more than can be said for most places that advertise the same three features together.
Bringing more than two dogs shortens the list quickly. The Bay takes four; Tides, Westlands, Mondeville, Fairways, Sunset Bay, A La Mer and Hartnolls take three; the remaining four stop at two or one. Travelling as a couple, Hartnolls and Rock Pools are built at that scale rather than shrunk down to it. And if the week turns wet, the drying room at Westlands, the outdoor hot showers at Tides, Rock Pools and A La Mer, and that plumbed basin in the garage at Mondeville will be worth a good deal more than the tub.
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