You arrive at your dog friendly cottage but....
| I recently asked our lovely Facebook and Instagram followers about their dog friendly woes before they found East Ruston Cottages - it always gives us a good insight in ways we can make sure that ERC are the most dog welcoming cottages possible.
One of the things which came up quite a lot was arriving at a property which indicated they had either secure or a fully enclosed garden, only to find out that the expectation was very different to the reality! Which is why we try to be as honest and descriptive about all our cottages fencing and gates! Lindsay arrived to find that fully enclosed actually meant a short 3 ft wall leading onto sheep fields, Carol had a terrifying experience where the cottage hadn't put any safety in place for the gates which led on to a dual carriageway. Rachel found her fully enclosed garden was only enclosed by a hedge which dogs could get through and into the livestock field and one poor Instagram follower was told that the garden was fully fenced and dog proof, but having a fence 8 inches off the ground meant that not only could she not relax and had to keep her chihuahuas on lead, but the neighbouring dogs kept coming in! Very stressful! |
But what is a secure garden?
It's difficult as people have different interpretations about what secure or enclosed means, but we try and put as much information as we possibly can on our cottage pages, and of course, you can always email me if you have any concerns at all!
But the basics we try and cover are:
- No gaps underneath the fences or gates.
- Making sure that the fence description and sizes are clear for each cottage - we have search options for fences up to 4ft (40 properties), 5ft (30 properties) and 6ft (17 properties)
- No fences with large spaces in between and backed with stock mesh or chicken wire.
- If there are hedges, we encourage chicken wire to be put behind
- If there are gates, we try and make sure there's a description and location.
Why do we care?
Right back when I started East Ruston Cottages in 2008, my main goal was to create places where dog owners could go for a stress free holiday, which included letting dogs on the furniture, no limit on dogs (I had so much trouble finding somewhere that accepted more than 2), and no extra charge for dogs, but also, I had dogs who were escape artists and jumpers so I knew how it felt to have the secure garden stress! The majority of our cottage owners are dog owners too, so they all understand how important it is to find somewhere that you can completely relax.
If you have any questions about the perfect property with the perfect garden for your dogs, feel free to drop me an email at sue@eastrustoncottages.co.uk - I'm always here to help!
