Dog-friendly castle hotels in the UK

Level 5 True Castle

Mingary Castle

Kilchoan, Ardnamurchan, Highland

A late 13th-century curtain-wall castle, restored between 2013 and around 2016. All four guest suites are inside the historic castle enclosure.

Sleep inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• EV charging
• Restaurant

Guests 9.6/10

Level 5 True Castle

Thornbury Castle

Thornbury, South Gloucestershire

A Tudor castle begun around 1511 for Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. Guests sleep in the historic inner court, including tower suites reached by the original spiral stair.

Sleep inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant
• Family rooms

5-star · Guests 9.5/10

Level 5 True Castle

Crossbasket Castle

High Blantyre, South Lanarkshire

A 16th-century tower with a 19th-century house added, category A listed. Some bedrooms are inside that historic fabric.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant
• Family rooms

5-star · Guests 9.2/10

Level 5 True Castle

Langley Castle

Hexham, Northumberland

A mid-14th-century tower house, Grade I listed. Nine bedrooms are inside the castle itself; other rooms are in separate estate buildings.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• EV charging
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 9.0/10

Level 5 True Castle

Lumley Castle Hotel

Chester-le-Street, County Durham

Built after licences to crenellate in 1382 and 1392 for Sir Ralph Lumley. Some rooms sit in the medieval castle, others in the courtyard range.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 5 True Castle

Star Castle Hotel

Hugh Town, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly

An Elizabethan star-shaped fort built from 1593 under Francis Godolphin. Some bedrooms are inside the historic fort, others are in later garden buildings.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Pool
• EV charging

4-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 5 True Castle

Braidwood Castle

Braidwood, South Lanarkshire

A fortified tower built around 1581 to protect against Border Reivers. Guests sleep on every floor of this historic structure.

Sleep inside the walls

• Dogs allowed

4-star

Level 5 True Castle

Dornoch Castle Hotel

Dornoch, Sutherland, Highland

A bishop's palace with a tower dating from around 1500, whose south wall survives at about nine feet thick. Nine of the 21 bedrooms are inside this historic tower.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• EV charging
• Restaurant

3-star · Guests 8.3/10

Level 5 True Castle

Walworth Castle Hotel

Darlington, County Durham

A Grade I listed mansion built around 1600 with corner towers, on the site of an earlier Hansard family house. Most bedrooms are inside that historic building, some in a later annex.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• EV charging
• Restaurant

3-star · Guests 8.3/10

Level 5 True Castle

Freswick Castle

Freswick, near Wick, Caithness

A 16th-century Sinclair and Mowat tower house, recast as a mansion in the late 18th century and Category A listed. Guests sleep inside the historic house, in six bedrooms.

Sleep inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Golf

Level 5 True Castle

Hazlewood Castle & Spa

Tadcaster, North Yorkshire

A castle built after a 1286 licence to crenellate. Nine of the 32 rooms are inside the historic castle, the rest in later courtyard buildings.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Spa
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 7.9/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Glenapp Castle

Ballantrae, South Ayrshire

Built in 1870 as a Scottish Baronial mansion by architect David Bryce, with no earlier defensive structure on the site. Guests sleep in the mansion or a garden cottage, not a medieval fortress.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Spa
• Restaurant

5-star · Guests 9.5/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Cringletie House

Peebles, Scottish Borders

Rebuilt around 1863 by architect David Bryce with corner turrets in his baronial style, replacing a 1666 house, with no defensive history. Most bedrooms are in this Victorian house.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• EV charging
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 9.3/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Schloss Roxburghe Golf Resort

Heiton, near Kelso, Scottish Borders

A Category B Scottish Jacobean mansion built in 1853, with no defensive history. Most bedrooms are in later wings, though 20 rooms are in the original house.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Golf

5-star · Guests 8.9/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Inverlochy Castle Hotel

Torlundy, Fort William, Highland

A 19th-century Scottish castle, built as a private house rather than a fortification. Some rooms are inside the castle, others in a converted stable block nearby.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant
• Family rooms

5-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Stonefield Castle Hotel

Tarbert, Loch Fyne, Argyll and Bute

An 1837 Scottish Baronial mansion by architect William Playfair, category B listed, with no defensive history. Guests sleep in the historic house.

Sleep inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant
• Family rooms

4-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Swinton Park Hotel

Masham, North Yorkshire

A house begun in 1695 and remodelled in the 1820s with turrets, castellations and a round tower, without a real defensive history. Guests sleep in the main house and a separate Coach House.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Spa
• Pool

4-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Meldrum House Hotel Golf and Country Estate

Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire

A tower house begun about 1236, but rebuilt in 1836 and 1934. Manor House rooms sit within this later fabric rather than the medieval tower itself.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• EV charging
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 8.7/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Dalmunzie Castle Hotel

Spittal of Glenshee, Perthshire

The hotel's own site dates the building to 1510 as a Laird's mansion, now shown in Scots Baronial style with turrets, a look usually added later.

• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant
• Family rooms

3-star · Guests 8.5/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Fonab Castle Hotel

Pitlochry, Perthshire

A Scottish Baronial mansion built in 1892 as a private house. Some bedrooms are in the historic building, others in separate lodges.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Spa
• Pool

5-star · Guests 8.5/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Sherbrooke Castle Hotel

Pollokshields, Glasgow

Built in 1896 as a baronial villa for a private owner, with a tower but no defensive history. Some rooms sit in the original building.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• EV charging
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 8.5/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Ardoe House Hotel & Spa

Blairs, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire

A Scottish Baronial mansion built in 1878, a private house until 1947. Some rooms are in the original house, others in later extensions.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• Spa
• Pool

4-star · Guests 8.4/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Otterburn Castle

Otterburn, Northumberland

A Grade II listed castellated country house rebuilt after 1830, incorporating an 18th-century house, with a 1904 tower added. No defensive history survives in the current fabric.

Sleep inside the walls

• Dogs allowed
• EV charging
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 8.2/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Ruthin Castle Hotel and Spa

Ruthin, Denbighshire

A castellated mansion built from 1825 and enlarged in the 1840s on the site of a medieval castle demolished after a 1646 siege. Guests sleep in the 19th-century mansion, not the medieval remains.

• Dogs allowed
• Spa
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 8.0/10