If you’re looking for a place to stay with your pup in Lymington, located in the New Forest, a warm welcome awaits at the boutique dog-friendly Stanwell House Hotel. We were kindly invited to stay at the Stanwell House Hotel by Dogstival, when we covered the fabulous New Forest festival for dogs earlier this year, but you might find yourself in Lymington for many other reasons. It’s a great base to explore the New Forest and it’s also one of the ports where you catch the ferry across to the Isle of Wight, in fact, the shortest and fastest car ferry crossing to the Isle of Wight at just 40 minutes.
Whatever your reason for passing through this quaint coastal town, if you’re in search of a dog-friendly place to stay in the centre of Lymington, then the Stanwell House Hotel is perfectly located for just that and as a base to explore the many dog-friendly things to do in the New Forest.
The Dog-friendly Stanwell House Hotel Lymington
On arriving into Lymington, you are immediately struck by the charm of this colourful town. Heading to Lymington High Street, you can’t miss the Stanwell House Hotel, set in a majestic white building right in the middle of town.
Stanwell House Hotel proclaim their dog-friendly status for all to see, as a dog owner it gave me the feeling that we would be given a warm welcome. I’m pleased to say we were not disappointed.
The staff immediately made a fuss of Belinha and it was a nice touch to see dog treats at the reception both complimentary and to purchase, with the latter being hand-made and supporting a local small business.
The Dog-friendly Garden Bedrooms
There are 29 individually designed rooms at the Stanwell House Hotel but it is the Garden rooms that are the dog-friendly rooms for the very reason of being close to the Garden. There is an additional charge of £15 per night for your dog to join you when staying at Stanwell House.
Our room was spacious for one couple and a medium-sized dog, but if you were travelling with a larger dog, you may want to request one of the larger garden rooms.
Whenever we visit a dog-friendly hotel I’m always more excited about the little touches for the dogs than for us humans. Belinha was equally excited to find some rather large dog biscuits waiting for her but less interested in the helpful page of suggestions of where to go ‘Walkies’ and dog blanket than I was.
Both of us fell in love with Rollo the ‘resident room dog’ who aside from being very cute, was a novel way to ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ and say ‘do not disturb’.
Dog beds aren’t provided so depending on your dog’s sleeping habits, you would need to bring your own. We had brought along Belinha’s Cloud 7 travel bed as it’s extremely useful for both in the hotel and when you go out for dinner.
You would also need to bring your own dog bowls for food/water and one thing to note is that there wasn’t a fridge in the room so if your dog eats wet or raw food and you need to store it in a fridge, you would need to ask the hotel to do so.
The best bit about the room from Belinha’s perspective was definitely the easy access to the garden. Our room opened onto a courtyard and from there, there was a pretty garden to explore.
The humans also enjoyed being next to the Garden but there is one word of caution that we do need to mention. The Stanwell House Hotel is an established wedding reception venue and on the first night we stayed there was a wedding reception in full swing in the conservatory and courtyard which was right outside our room. The festivities finish at midnight but until this point, noise levels felt like we were right in the middle of the party so an early night was not an option. So, I would suggest that if a wedding reception has been booked during your stay, plan to eat out and enjoy a few glasses of wine in Lymington coming back to the hotel late to avoid the party.
The second night of our stay was much quieter which, after a long day at Dogstival meant we were looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
Dining with Dogs at the Stanwell House Hotel
There are several dining areas at the Stanwell House Hotel some of which are dog-friendly. Breakfast is taken in the Conservatory which has plenty of space for pups.
It is also right next to the main restaurant area where dogs are not allowed but as long as you are two people, one can go and help themselves from the delicious buffet whilst the other stays on dog duty.
Both days we went for a cooked breakfast, always a favourite with Belinha as a cooked breakfast means some sausage might find it’s way to floor level although she wasn’t too impressed with my vegetarian sausages.
On the second night of our stay, we decided to eat at the in-house restaurant ‘Burcher & Co’ tucked away at the front of the hotel. With a warm and cosy decor, it was just what we needed after a busy day at Dogstival.
Belinha thoroughly approved of our choice as it meant she got to enjoy the sofa as well as lots of fuss from the restaurant staff who brought her treats and water much to her delight.
Our food was simply delicious and it was the perfect way to round off our stay.
Our stay at the dog-friendly Stanwell House Hotel Lymington – The Verdict
Paws Up For…
- Dogs are made a fuss of by staff and the hotel lives up to its dog-friendly status
- Dog-friendly rooms have easy access to the garden which is great for dogs (and the garden is very pretty when the Wisteria is in bloom)
- The hotel’s location in the centre of town was great
- Dinner in the restaurant was delicious and dogs were made to feel very welcome to join you
Paws for Thought…
- The Garden Rooms can be very noisy if there is a wedding reception on, so plan your evening accordingly
- Remember to bring your own dog bowls and bed
- A small room fridge in the dog-friendly rooms would have been useful for pups and people
This place looks really nice, great review Teresa
Author
Thank you Adam