Life off the lead

10/04/2025

10/04/2025

☀️ Sunny days to come at Life Off the Lead! ☀️

There’s something magical about the field when the sun is out — the grass seems greener, the air feels lighter, and the happy tails wag just a little harder! 🌼🐾

If you needed a sign to get outside and soak it all in, this is it. Here is a little reminder of how lovely the field is in the spring and summer.

Come and see how beautiful Life Off the Lead can be when the sun’s shining — golden hours — perfect for a stroll, a sniff, and maybe even a sneaky sunbathe. 🌞🐾

See you out there! 🌿

09/04/2025

🐾 A Little Update from Life off the Lead 🐾

Firstly, a huge thank you to all of you — our wonderful clients and four-legged friends — for supporting Life off the Lead over the past seven years. 🐶💚

We wanted to let you know that, from today, there will be a small increase to our prices. This is only the second time in seven years that we’ve made a change.

Like many small businesses, we've faced rising costs across the board — from insurance and maintenance to field upkeep and improvements. We've absorbed these increases for as long as we could because we genuinely care about keeping Life off the Lead accessible and affordable.

Our commitment remains the same: providing a safe, private, and joyful space for you and your dogs to enjoy. 🌳🐕

Thank you so much for your understanding, your loyalty, and for being part of our community. We truly couldn’t do this without you. 🐾

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch — we're always here to help!

06/04/2025

The field will be closed on the 10th and 11th for groundwork’s to be carried out. We apologise for any disruption this may cause.

29/03/2025

🥰🥰

22/03/2025

This is the lovely cafe next to the field and would suit someone looking for some part time work, and the cafe is dog friendly too 😊

06/03/2025

*This is a heads up for those walking on open access land. It has no impact on those using the field.*
IMPORTANT NOTICE - Dog owners please be aware of the CROW Act, which came into effect on the 01 March, Continuing until the 01 July.
"There’s a general rule that visitors using their open access rights must keep dogs on a short lead of no more than 2 metres between 1 March and 31 July each year (except in the coastal margin) and at all times near livestock."

Link here

As a land owner or manager, find out about your responsibilities and how to manage public access.

02/03/2025

When living with a dog who has lots of energy it can seem logical to think that they need more exercise to tire them out - longer, faster walks, more throwing of a ball (or using a ball chucker), always more, more, more...

While this does on the surface seem to make perfect sense, when following that advice what we are actually doing is making the situation worse. Think about how an athlete works to increase their fitness - they do more and faster. Now think about throwing a ball for the dog repeatedly. This is much like the shuttle runs those athletes do to increase their speed and fitness levels.

The great news is that there is another option for these high energy dogs. Yes, they need physical exercise, but they also need mental exercise. Luckily, mental exercise is a fairly easy thing to provide for all dogs, and we can even fit a great amount in on our daily walks.

Sniffing is an activity suitable for all dogs. Scent is the primary way dogs analyse and interpret their world, with an olfactory capability way better than that of humans. Simply giving your dog time and space to sniff on a walk gets that brain working and that will tire your dog more than you might realise. My own Border Collies (one of whom is the young dog sniffing in the image) will relax and snooze as much after 20 minutes of sniffing as they will after a 2 hour mostly off lead walk.

There are lots of ways to provide mental exercise for dogs, but this most powerful form is something that we can access free at any time, just by giving them the time to investigate their surroundings in the way that works best for them.

01/03/2025

I’m not quite sure what happened here? This was last week after the torrential rain.
The bin is approx 5 foot away from the inner gate and we provide poo bags, so I am not sure why anyone felt the need to place dog poo on the top of the fence post!! Maybe a dirty protest about the state of the grass/mud or a dog the size of a literal horse has visited! 🤢🤢 Anyway, following this, from next week there will be CCTV in the field as this is the last straw 😡.
Roll on spring time, new grass, less rain and sunnier days!

24/01/2025

Please be aware of the bungee rope, the fence post is very slightly wobbly and I don’t want to take any chances in the upcoming storm, and please be careful with the gate and try not to let it slam. It was wedged shut this morning, making it very difficult to get in. Stay inside and stay safe 😊😊

14/01/2025

An extender lead has been left at the field, please don’t move it as its owner is coming back to retrieve it later 😊

04/01/2025

We are aware of the leaking pipe behind the field and an emergency plumber is coming.

02/01/2025

Good morning and Happy New Year to you all 🥰
The front door to the field has moved a bit with the wind, and isn't closing shut when you leave, so there is a bit of string attached to the front handle that needs to be hooked onto the hook for the key to keep it shut when you leave. I will be fixing it in the morning. 💨🍃

24/12/2024

Right, I’ll try again!
Life off the lead would like to wish all its lovely clients and their beautiful dogs, a very happy Christmas and New Year. I would also like to thank my tireless “elves” who have worked so hard to keep the field clean, organised, fixed and tidy all year.
Samantha Lewis, Hampton Tree Services, Rob Shaw, SM landscapes, Callum Creaser, Jess Hampton, the girls at Simply Hounds and hughes (who I still can’t tag!) Thank you so much for all your hard work. I couldn’t do this without you 🥰