Bamburgh Castle dog-sitting service gets the tail wag of approval

Northumberland Dog Rescue is Bamburgh Castle's charity of the year for 2023 and has been running several events in conjunction with the castle.

The initative saw experienced and fully trained volunteers looking after some of the castle guests' four-legged family members, while their two-legged owners explored the treasures inside some of the castle areas that understandably can't allow dog access.

Lee Fraser, charity trustee said " As part of our ongoing relationship with Bamburgh Castle we agreed to ‘sit’ for some of their guests as part of Bamburgh Castle's commitment to whole family days out, dogs are a huge part of our family after all aren't they?"

"We ran a trial over the Easter holidays and it was so well received by everyone concerned that Karen (Larkin), the castle events manager, asked us to do the same over the summer holidays, so last weekend in the typical British summer weather we did exactly that.

"We looked after a total of 26 dogs over the Sunday and Monday, a lovely mixture of all sizes, ages and breeds from Moss, a 56kg Scottish Deerhound, right through to Tutu a Bichon cross, and despite the weather we all considered ourselves lucky to do so, and received some lovely comments about the service when the owners were reunited with their dogs."

The charity is continuing the dog sitting sessions right through the month of August on every Sunday and Monday plus Wednesday 16th and 23rd and is also discussing the possibility of further dates in the future.

Lee added: “The dog sitting has proven to be so popular that regrettably we are having to turn some people down on the days, and really do recommend booking in advance via our dedicated email address [email protected] to ensure we have enough volunteers on the day to safely accommodate the requests for the service, we're there on Sundays and Mondays between 10:30am and 3pm."

A donation of £5 for 1/2 an hour or £10 for 1 hour per dog to the charity is requested for the service.