Holiday Destination That's Barking Up The Right Tree

If you’re looking for a luxury holiday cottage in East Anglia that’s also dog friendly, search no longer. Dogs are just as welcome as their owners at these Suffolk get-aways.

- Rachel Banham

It says a lot about Jacqui and Richard Gooding’s holiday cottage business that it was voted dog friendly business of the year just two years after it opened.

The first guests stayed at the beautiful Letheringham Mill, near Woodbridge, towards the end of 2015; the couple won VisitEngland’s Dog Friendly Business of the Year 2017 – and today the mill is as popular as ever.

Jacqui and Richard, who have three dogs and a cat themselves, decided to combine luxury with dog friendliness, and converted the former watermill into holiday cottages on the banks of the River Deben.

Guests return again and again, and visitors love the cottages and also the extras provided for dogs – including treats, water bowls and blankets.

Jacqui is originally from Cheshire and Richard is a Suffolk boy, having lived in Saxmundham and Leiston. The couple met while working in London and Jacqui recalls how, when they retired about six years ago, it was Richard’s idea to live in Suffolk. Jacqui had never been to the county before, but fell in love with Suffolk and its people.