Cockington Country Park Dog Walk
450 acres of woodland and open field, with a thatched pub that pulls pints for dogs
Cockington Lane, Torquay, Devon, TQ2 6XA
Visit WebsiteThe whole Cockington estate is dog friendly, all 450 acres of it, which is the answer most people arrive looking for. What keeps them coming back is the variety. Just outside central Torquay the park opens into woodland paths, streams, wide grass fields and a thatched village that looks as though the last four hundred years passed it by. It is the kind of place where you can slow down, let your dog set the pace and follow whichever path smells most interesting.
- Multiple Dogs Allowed
- Parking
- Rural Walks
Good to know
Overview
Cockington Country Park covers 450 acres on the edge of Torquay, with five waymarked routes threading through it and nothing difficult among them. The woodland paths are the quieter option, with long stretches where you will not meet anyone, and the open fields below are where dogs go to get the zoomies out of their system.
The variety is the point. Take a different combination of paths each visit and it never quite repeats itself, which is why it stays a favourite with local dog owners rather than being a one-off day out.
Cockington Village sits just below the woodland, thatched and photogenic and home to some of the best cream teas in Devon. Cockington Court is above it, with a small cafe and a scattering of craft studios and boutique shops in the grounds. Your dog will spot the pup cup opportunities before you do.
If there is still energy left afterwards, Torquay seafront is only a mile away.
For The Dogs
The whole estate is dog friendly and there is enough room here for most dogs to have a proper run. The Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust asks that dogs are kept on a lead and under close control around cattle and sheep, which applies across all of its land, and the village lanes and car parks carry traffic in summer.
Bring water. There are streams through the woodland but nothing you would want to rely on in a dry spell, and the open fields have almost no shade at midday.
Bring a towel too. In winter this is one of the muddier walks in the area and the woodland paths hold water long after the rain has stopped, so a portable shower in the boot is not overkill.
One unusual thing about Cockington is that it has a real dog walking community. Several groups meet here, including ones for particular breeds and for dogs living with blindness or deafness. Worth ten minutes of searching before you visit if you are socialising a young dog, or would simply like to walk with people whose dog is like yours.
Food and Drink
The Drum Inn sits in the middle of the estate, thatched, with fires going through the winter, and it takes dogs seriously. There is a water station outside the front stacked with steel bowls beside a barrel of Scooby Brew, under a sign reading Paw Your Pooch A Pint. Inside they keep dog towels, boot cleaners and gravy bones behind the bar.
The village tea rooms and the cafe at Cockington Court both do pup cups, so your dog can eat rather better here than in most places.
Opening Hours
The park is open all year and the paths are not gated, so daylight hours are the practical limit.
Cockington Court, the cafe and the craft studios keep their own hours and the visitor centre is seasonal, so check before you set off if those are part of the plan.
Parking
There are four car parks. Higher Lodge is pay on exit and the easiest for the woodland and the open fields. The village centre car park is pay and display and cash only, and there are further pay and display car parks at the cycle hub and behind Cockington Court.
As at September 2026 the Trust tariff runs from £2 for an hour to £10.70 for more than four hours, and some of the Cockington car parks have a four hour maximum. Current charges are on the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust website.
The nearest postcode is TQ2 6XA. Cockington Lane is narrow and it gets busy at weekends and through the summer, so arriving early is worth it.
The Area
Cockington sits in a green fold between Torquay and Paignton, close enough that the seafront is a mile away down the hill and far enough that you cannot hear it. This is the English Riviera, so the walking season runs longer here than in most of the country and the woodland holds its colour well into November.
For the coastal counterpart, the walk from Broadsands to Fishcombe Cove follows the cliffs south towards Brixham and takes in three beaches on the way. If you are looking for somewhere to stay, Cary Arms & Spa sits above Babbacombe Beach twenty minutes up the coast.
For more walks, pubs and places to stay, see our guide to dog friendly Devon.