FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s easy – just use our very helpful Sniff Out Your Pawfect Place page! You can search with or without dates and you can refine your search in all sorts of ways – numbers of dogs, fence heights, hot tub, near a beach and much more. Or email us – hello@eastrustoncottages.co.uk We know the properties and the area inside out – and have dogs ourselves of course – so we can help you choose.
Absolutely!! All of them very much welcome dogs (or they wouldn’t be with us!) and all have doggy extras. It varies from property to property but usually you can find dog bowls, dog treats or biscuits in the welcome packs, throws for the sofas, toys, a spare lead or two, crates, some have dog beds and doggy first aid kits, outside warm dog showers, a doggy toy box – we now loan out buggies if you need them too!!
All of our places welcome at least 3 and most of them more. Some 6, 8 and some have no limit!
(Our biggest pack to date was 20!) The limits are flexible so please do ask!
NO! We never have and never will charge for dogs; it was our main rule when we started in 2008 and we have no intention of changing it!
Yes! Dogs are allowed on the sofas (with throws provided in most properties) In most of the houses they are also very welcome on the beds too, if that is what they are used to at home. All we ask is that you bring your own bed linen with you if you want your dogs to share your bed.
Yes! No breed discrimination here! We are also happy to welcome XL bullies at many of our cottages too – see the list in the next question.
You can! XL bully types can’t be accepted at every property as several of them wouldn’t have the most suitable garden set up and some are limited by their insurance. However, all the ones that do are featured on our blog post Welcoming XL bullies to Norfolk
Yes, from small courtyards to huge grass back gardens. Full details of the fencing/gates are included on the individual property description and we are happy to provide more information and photos. None of them will claim to be fully secure for ALL types of dog but they are all enclosed and all the owners have done their best to provide a safe area for the majority of dogs.
We understand that different dogs have different requirements and will be happy to talk to you to identify which property would be best for you and your dogs.
Yes! Just add them to your booking form and we will make sure they are available for your stay.
We have all sizes! If they aren’t already at the property you have chosen, we will deliver them.
Crates are free to borrow. Dog buggies are charged at £10 per booking.
All the Winterton cottages are a short walk to the Fisherman’s Return in the village.
You can walk from our Eccles properties up the coast to The Hill House or inland to the Lessingham Star! They are an easy 30 mins walk but well worth it and they are, of course, all dog friendly.
Our Happisburgh properties have the The Hill House in the village.
You can walk to the Swan Inn in Stalham along the Weavers Way from our East Ruston properties.
Red Roofs has The Greyhound Inn and The Pleasure Boat within easy walking distance in the village of Hickling. Both great dog welcoming pubs!
The Star at Lessingham, one of our favourite dog friendly pubs, is a very easy, short walk from Corner Cottage, an easy walk from The Walnut, The Peanut, Bumblebee Cottage and The Farmhouse!
If you stay at our Bacton/Walcott properties, you can walk to The Lighthouse Inn.
Staying at Broad’s Cottage in Thurne? The Lion Inn is just a short walk along the quiet road.
If you are staying at Thatched Cottage then both the Kings Head and Hotel Wroxham are a very short walk away, right by the water and very dog friendly!
In Trunch there is The Crown Inn – a very short and easy walk from Swallowdale, Rooster Barn and 1 Paynes Cottage!
If you are not able to make your holiday for any reason, do let us know as soon as possible. We strongly encourage you to have cancellation insurance for this. We do offer a product – XCover (previously called Booking Protect) – which can be taken out at the time of your booking which may enable you to claim a refund. See here for more details. Otherwise our normal Terms and Conditions apply – see here for full details.
All of them do and they are sandy and joined up too! Over 90 miles as well as inland dunes.
From 1 May – 1 October a few very small areas have restrictions but where there are restricted areas they are small and there is plenty of easy to access, unrestricted beach left to enjoy. Full details here.
If you would like to use a secure dog field during your stay, we have a few options:
Martham Paw Ground Norfolk Dog Field of the year, 2023! And our guests can all book with an exclusive 10% discount. Make sure you book well in advance as this is a these are 2 very popular fields.
Home – Winterton Hound Ground is within walking distance of our Winterton properties and a short drive from the Scratby properties too!
Walcott Dog Park located on the beautiful North Norfolk Coast in Walcott and next to The Lighthouse Inn.
Happisburgh Dog Park is small but perfectly formed and just as you come out of Happisburgh on the coast road. Your next stop can be the beach at Cart Gap and Smallsticks Cafe for a dog welcome and good food!
K9 Unleashed Dog Field – which can be found in South Walsham, under 30 minutes from many of our cottages.
Red Roofs is just opposite Hickling Broad – a stunning location!
Fenside is so close to the water at Barton Broad that the garden has it’s own mooring and boats can be hired and moored there for your holiday! Perfect for fishing and canoe launching too!
Broads Cottage is right on the edge of the Broads at Thurne – with the most amazing walks from the door along the waters edge and inland.
Thatched Cottage is about 5 mins walk to the water, passing all sorts of wonderful dog friendly cafes, shops and more in the popular Broads village of Hoveton/Wroxham.
All of the other properties on the website are a short drive from the Broads and many of the boat hire companies welcome dogs.
Yes, all of our Winterton cottages are a very short walk to miles of beach! So close you can hear the sea!
The Happisburgh and Lessingham cottages are an easy walk to to the beach.
At Waxham they all have a private field edge walk directly to the beach – approx 10-15 mins.
Thatch Cottage, is a peaceful mile walk (along a lovely green track) to the beach at Eccles. Our Eccles properties are a stone’s throw from the beach.
At Bacton/Walcott they are all so close to the sea you can hear it!
Scratby properties have an easy pavement walk to the beach at the end of the road (passing the cafe, bakery and fish and chip shop too!)
Rooster Barn, and Dormy have dedicated parking within the enclosed garden boundary. Thatch Cottage and Fenside do too. White Cottage has a well fenced drive with a gate to keep dogs in, as does Bristow’s Barn, Manor Barn, and The Farmhouse.
At Oak Cottage, Lighthouse Cottage, Church Fields Cottage and The Forge there is a shared, gated area for off road parking. You can also find shared and gated parking at Edelweiss. The Walnut, Bumblebee Cottage and The Peanut all share a gated enclosed parking area.
Thatched Cottage and Sea Urchin also have gated off road parking.
Many of the other houses have dedicated off road parking to make life easier for getting dogs in and out of cars.
We have teamed up with The Raw Dog Food Company in Norwich and you can make an order for your holiday with a very low minimum order level for ERC holiday customers. There are several other places in the area where you can pick up fresh and frozen supplies and many of the properties have enough freezer and fridge space to help you plan. See the It’s A Dog’s Life page to find out more.
The Farmhouse has a great, fully enclosed garden – ideal for children to play in and lots of games in the house and TWO amazing games rooms too. (Just as much fun for grown ups!)
Fenside is pawfect for a family and lots of dogs – especially if they enjoy nature and paddle boarding, kayaking, fishing – as it’s got the Norfolk Broads at the bottom of the garden!
White Cottage and The Crib are all a short walk from the children’s play area by the cliff top parking – zip wire and climbing frames overlooking the sea!
The Winterton, Rollesby and Scratby properties are a very short drive from Hemsby and Great Yarmouth where you will find everything from cinema, tenpin bowling, crazy golf and arcades. Winterton also has a lovely playground in the centre of the village. This is out of bounds to dogs though I’m afraid.
Red Roofs has an enormous garden to play in and the village hall nearby has a children’s play area.
We cannot offer any insurance but STRONGLY recommend that you have your own in case of cancellation. We also have a refund protection option for each booking via XCover – NOT an insurance but a way of reclaiming your payments. See here for more details.
We take 15% of the total as a deposit, payable within 5 days of making the booking. The balance is due 6 weeks before your holiday starts. We do often have lower deposit offers in place to help spread the cost of your holiday and you can pay in instalments too.
We do, and debit cards (not Amex). You can pay online at the same time as you make a booking. When you book you will get a link to the secure online payment system that we use and when we send out the balance request there will be another link. This is by far the most secure way of paying by card. PLEASE NOTE that we cannot securely take payments over the phone.
Yes we do.
Short breaks are often available in many of the properties, mostly out of season (Nov – Feb) but some are year round. The usual stay length is 3 nights (Friday to Monday) or 4 nights (Monday to Friday) but we are getting more and more flexible …! If you look on the availability calendar, short break start dates are marked with a blue circle and you can select the number days there and see the price.
The normal arrival time is between 3pm and 5pm (differs between the properties) and departure can be between 9am and 11am but it is sometimes possible to arrive earlier and leave later, particularly when there is nobody in or out on the same day. This is very much down to the individual owners and cleaners. We provide the owners’ number with your arrival details so feel free to contact them about an earlier arrival and they will be able to advise.
At many of the houses you can arrange for a supermarket delivery to arrive before you do and have it put away but it does vary. Please check the individual property’s ‘please note’ sections for more information.
Chef Norgate is one we rate for catering at the cottages.
And for a posh dinner party we can highly recommend The Edge!
Not really as ERC is run from our homes however, we do appreciate phone calls being kept to office hours, 9am to 5pm and preferably not on a Sunday. You can leave a message any time and emails are always welcome (and are the best and most reliable way for enquiries and bookings).
We are very lucky to have lovely guests who regularly give us great reviews – hundreds of people have rated us 5 stars and given some great reviews on the independent review site, Up Front Reviews. Also on our Facebook page. A great selection of reviews on the The Good Dog Guide website too.
We don’t belong to any ratings or awards schemes as most of them cost a lot of money to buy into and we would rather spend the money on advertising and the properties themselves.
We hope the bookings speak for themselves as do the comments on the guestbook pages. However we have been awarded the 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 Dog Friendly Self Catering award on the Dog Friendly website!!
Yes we do! Regular special offers, new properties and cancellations are included on the Facebook page and we send out emails too with special discounts for our mailing list subscribers! If you want to be on our mailing list, just join it here – Mailing List.
All of our repeat guests get a 10% discount and many of our property owners offer last minute discounts and more.
We have to be quite strict about this one. Charging cars can only be done where there is a designated car charging point installed at a property (we have several with charging points).
Electric bikes and wheelchairs cannot be charged without prior consent from the property owners. They may have an outside area that would be suitable but in all cases, fire regulations and insurance have to be complied with.
We do! We regularly run fundraising campaigns and make one off donations to various animals charities – see our Charity page on the website. We work with Medical Detection Dogs too – we LOVE the work they do – dogs saving human lives with their noses!
We also have discount codes for some charity supporters and when these are used to make a booking, we make a donation to the charity too.
We also try to encourage our owners (and guests) to buy their dog biscuits from Nero’s Kitchen in Happisburgh.
