Chester

April, Gordon and Seve, our K9 Adventurers, explore Chester! Read about their adventures!

Visiting Chester

Chester is a city in northwest England, about one hour from Manchester, and 40 minutes from Liverpool. There are good transport links, with a railway station just outside of the town centre that has trains direct to London, North Wales and Manchester.

There are numerous places to park in the city, as well as several ‘Park-and-Ride’ options, which are all dog friendly. We usually choose to park at the Racecourse, it is £5 for the full day, and even offers free parking on several Sundays throughout the year. Dogs are allowed on the centre of the racecourse (i.e. not on the track) and Seve absolutely loves stretching his legs here before we head into town.

Roman Walls

From the racecourse, you have direct access to the Roman walls. The city walls are the oldest, longest and most complete in Britain, parts of which are almost 2000 years old. Chester is the only city in Britain where you can walk the entire circuit of these ancient walls which are about 2 miles in total. Throughout the route there are plenty of places where you can get down from the walls to see some of the other historic sites.

With the racecourse behind us we began by venturing left; first passing the impressive Queen’s School before reaching the Water Tower. We stepped down off the walls here as there is a little park area, and you can walk around the Water Tower. We then headed back onto the Walls, and continued around into the city centre, admiring the magnificent views across north wales as we went.

Chester Cathedral

Our next stop off was at Chester Cathedral, the grounds were filled with spring flowers and Seve enjoyed rolling around on the grass! The oldest parts of the cathedral date back to 1093. Sadly, dogs are not allowed inside so we carried on our circuit of the walls.

Eastgate Clock and The Rows

Probably the most famous view when visiting Chester is of the Eastgate clock, we headed down and took some photos looking up at the clock and then also managed to get some from the walls. From this point, you have the best views of the ‘Rows’. The Rows are unique to Chester, providing a second storey of shops and eateries, and which date back to the 13th Century.

Roman Garden and Grosvenor Park

From here, we continued to the Roman Garden where again we stepped down off the walls; explored the Roman Gardens and then crossed the road to the largest Roman amphitheatre in Britain, all of which can be explored at no charge.

Alongside the amphitheatre is Grosvenor Park, which covers approx. 20 acres. There are plenty of open spaces where Seve could be let off his lead here, there is also a café and a miniature railway, which are both dog friendly.

Chesterboats Tour

After another good run around for Seve, we walked down to the Groves, a tree lined avenue adjacent to the River Dee, which has a bandstand, seating, cafes and ice-cream parlours. It is from here that we boarded our Chesterboats tour. We had a half hour cruise along the river, which gave our legs a chance to rest and Seve enough time for a snooze! Dogs are allowed upstairs and downstairs at the back of the boat, all of the crew were super dog friendly and gave Seve lots of fuss. The cruise was £8 per adult, £2.50 for children and there was no charge for dogs.

Hickory's Smokehouse

All of that exploring had made us hungry so we stopped into Hickory’s Smokehouse for lunch, as well as being dog friendly outside, they also have a covered indoor area where dogs are welcome. You know you’ve made a good choice when the first question your server asks you is if the dog is allowed some beef brisket! As you can imagine this went down very well with a food-obsessed spaniel, who then spent the rest of the meal protecting the dish just in case it happened to get magically refilled again! 

Alongside the amphitheatre is Grosvenor Park, which covers approx. 20 acres. There are plenty of open spaces where Seve could be let off his lead here, there is also a café and a miniature railway, which are both dog friendly.

Visiting Chester

There are so many dog-friendly places to eat in and around Chester; a few others that we have tried include – The Café at the Walls (perfect for a light snack or drink), The Flowercup Chester (does the most Instagrammable brunches), and then about ten minutes from Chester The Black Dog is our ‘go-to’ for a special occasion. You can book a dome which means that it is great for dogs who don’t like to be disturbed too much as you have your own private covered space outside.

If you are visiting Chester for longer than a day, you definitely need to check out Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet which has over 100 stores and restaurants which are dog friendly, just look for the pawprint sign in the windows. Another must-do is a visit to Delamere Forest which is about 20 minutes outside of the city, run by Forestry England you will not be short of tracks to explore with your dog.

Happy Exploring

Avril, Gordon and Seve