Family dog boarding on a farm outside Llantrisant since 2008. Twenty-four heated suites with a window each, three paddock walks a day with their own family or alone, your food and your tablets at no charge, and a photograph of your dog every evening. Prices by the night, on the website.
The stay
01
The cowshed was rebuilt in 2015 as twenty-four suites: underfloor heating, a raised orthopaedic bed, a window at dog height, a covered private run, and a door that closes at night. Six are doubles with two beds for dogs from the same home.
£34 a night for one to six nights, £31 for seven to thirteen, £28 from fourteen.
02
Every dog goes out three times a day in the fenced paddocks: with the dogs from their own home, or on their own if they are nervous or elderly, never in a free-for-all with strangers. Ball, sniffing, a paddle in the trough, a sit under the oak. The kennel hands walk, they do not supervise from a chair.
Three walks a day are included in every stay.
03
You bring their usual food and tell us the times; we feed exactly that. Medication is given at no charge, twice a day if needed, and written up. Old, deaf, blind, anxious and post-operative dogs go in the quiet end of the shed with the same kennel hand every day.
Included in every stay.
04
The green van collects and returns dogs within twelve miles of the farm: Llantrisant, Pontyclun, Talbot Green, Miskin, Llanharan, Tonyrefail and the villages between, £22 each way. Day care runs from eight to six for the dogs whose people work, with the same walks and the same paddocks.
Van £22 each way within twelve miles, booked with the stay.
05
A first stay is easier if it is not the first time. Come for a Saturday viewing with the dog, do a trial day, book a short first stay before the fortnight in Portugal, and get a straight report on how they did. Puppies from twelve weeks with their second vaccination.
Viewings free, Saturdays 11 to 1.
06
The farm is open every day of the year, Christmas Day included, with the same walks and the same people. Peak weeks add £6 a night and fill early: the summer holidays by May, Christmas by October, Easter by February. Regulars get first refusal on the dates they had last year.
Peak weeks £6 a night on top of the normal rate; the minimum stay at Christmas is three nights.
Prices
£34 a night
A night, one dog, including three walks, their food served and medication.
£31 a night
A night. The rate applies to the whole stay once it reaches seven nights.
£28 a night
A night. Stays over five weeks by arrangement.
A price for your dates
How we work
You bring their usual food and tell us the times; we feed what you bring, when you say. Changing a dog's diet on holiday is how you get a bad week for everyone.
8 to 10 in the morning and 4 to 6 in the afternoon, every day of the year including Christmas. The van collects and returns within twelve miles if you cannot.
£34 a night for a short stay, £31 for a week, £28 for a fortnight and over. A second dog sharing is £19. Nothing added for medication or a cuddle.
Licensed by Rhondda Cynon Taf for twenty-four dogs with a five-star rating at the last inspection. Our own vet is four miles away and on the phone at any hour.
First stays
A dog that has never been away from you does not know you are coming back. So the first stay starts with a Saturday viewing with the dog, a trial day if you want one, and a night or two before the long week. Nervous, deaf and elderly dogs go in the quiet end, the six suites furthest from the door, and Helen rings you on the second day if a dog is not eating.
The farm
The first walkPhotograph by Lowri
The first walk of the day, family by family, before breakfast. The oak has watched this every morning since 2008 and for about three hundred and eighty years before that.
The suitesPhotograph by Helen
Underfloor heating, a window at dog height and a bed from home. The retriever is Bramble, who has stayed eleven times.
The suitesPhotograph by Dan
Twenty-four doors, hosed and dried by ten while the dogs are out. The radio in the corridor is on Radio 2, low.
Reviews
Our spaniel has stayed six times and now drags us up the lane. Photo every evening, usually mid-ball. Collected clean, tired and pleased with himself. The oak is as good as they say.
Fourteen-year-old collie, deaf, on three tablets. Quiet end, same kennel hand every day, chart signed for every dose, and Helen rang on day two to say she was eating. That phone call is why we will not go anywhere else.
Dan collected our two at eight the morning we flew and had them home before we had unpacked. Text ten minutes before, both times. Worth every penny of the £22.
Find us
A mile north of Llantrisant on Cross Inn Lane. Drive in through the gate and pull up by the oak; the drop-off door is the green one with the bell. Drop-off and collection eight to ten and four to six, every day of the year, or let the van do it.
Core vaccinations or the annual booster, kennel cough at least ten days before the stay, the card to show us, a registration form, and their usual food with the times. Flea and worm treatment up to date. That is the lot; the rule on vaccinations has no exceptions.
£34 a night for one to six nights, £31 for seven to thirteen, £28 for fourteen and over. A second dog sharing a double is £19. Peak weeks add £6. The van is £22 each way. Nothing is added for medication. The prices page has every figure, and the box on this page works it out for your dates.
Walked, three times a day, forty minutes each, in the paddocks under the oak, with their own family or alone, by a kennel hand who is there with them. Never in a group with strangers.
A message with a photograph every evening of the stay from the person who walked your dog. If anything is wrong you hear the same day, and we ring on the second day if a dog is not settling.
Please do. Saturdays between eleven and one without an appointment, or by arrangement any other day. Bring the dog, see the suites and the paddocks, and do a trial day before a first stay.
Give us the dates, the dog and whether two are sharing, and Helen replies within a day with the suite, the price and the deposit. Viewings on Saturdays, eleven to one, no appointment. Bring the dog.
