Additional info to my review!

Partner’s just pointed out that it’s junction 9 if you’re northbound, which brings you straight up to the Tesco’s petrol & supermarket, and junction 10 if you’re southbound, where it’s about 5 mins on a local road to get there.

Great place to stop

We came off at junction 9 where there’s a Tesco with a petrol station at supermarket prices and toilets in the supermarket.

Plenty places to park in the town, which is about 1 mile from the junction, free on street, not sure about the car park.

A nice place to walk along by a river with good paths, lots of grassy areas and a kiddies play park.

Fabulous dog friendly cafe on the main street, Abbeygreen cafe, lovely friendly staff, had a great breakfast, good coffee and the cakes looked delicious too.

All good on a frosty January day

The hotel is now a Days Inn, they charge £10 extra for the dog. It was very comfortable, nice big room and felt like a slight upgrade from the Travelodges we normally stay in. There’s a door straight from the hotel through to the services to save you going outside if the weather’s bad.

There were patches on the path around the lake where it looked like it had been a bit muddy but on a quiet frosty morning it was a really lovely walk. No bird poop though could be very different in the summer but we’d certainly stop here again.

It’s on the southbound side but not a long diversion if you’re heading north.

Good service station

We stayed in the Travelodge here and whilst we didn’t attempt the walk because there had been 24 hours of heavy rain, there is a decent sized grassy area round the back of the hotel where doggies can have a better than average sniff around than you get at most service stations. It’s tucked around the back of the hotel so fine for off lead if your dog has good recall and is not too much of a wanderer, but more the size of a big garden than a field.

Not great on a wet day in October

The village has double yellow lines down both sides of the main road but there was limited parking down the one side street and a couple of spaces opposite a closed down pub. Unfortunately the end of the path by the stile was very overgrown and following a couple of days of heavy rain it was all starting to get a bit too muddy. Best left for a drier day in winter or spring when the bushes have died back.

Lovely cafe and walk

We visited on a lovely sunny day so it was quite busy but there was plenty free parking. We had a lovely walk along by the canal, an easy flat footpath to follow. We crossed at the lock to walk on the opposite side which was slightly quieter and had paths down to the river on the other side.

We had lunch at the cafe. It was very busy so there was a bit of a queue to get served but the food was delicious and definitely worth waiting for, and the staff were really friendly, bringing us a doggy bowl to the table.

Brilliant beach!

Gorgeous sandy beach with sand dunes between the beach and car park so nice and safe for off lead runabouts. It is a bit of a walk from the car park, there are paths and board walks or you can take a more direct but challenging route over the sand dunes but it is so worth it! You can walk for miles in either direction and there is plenty beach even when the tide is in.

There’s plenty free parking and there are toilets, poop bins and a children’s play area by the car park. There’s a wooden cabin there that might be a cafe or shop but I was last there in February 2022 (when the photos were taken) and it wasn’t open but it might be in the summer.

Perfect pit stop

This is a fabulous place, lots easy walking forest paths, lots of space for off lead runabouts, plenty poop bins and also lots of places with benches plus quite a few interesting sculptures and some lovely views from the top of the hill.

The cafe is very dog friendly cafe, we had a delicious brekkie, they serve great coffee and there are lots of picnic benches outside too. Free parking, clean toilets, and there’s a decent looking play park if you’ve younger children. All in all, a really great place to stop.