The Dog & Doublet Inn
A family-run Sandon inn with home-cooked food
About this hotel
The Dog & Doublet Inn is a newly renovated, family-run country inn in the village of Sandon, five miles from Stafford, offering individually designed bedrooms with flat-screen TVs, tea and coffee-making facilities and bathrooms with showers or baths. Traditional English meals are served in front of a real log fire in the pub, giving the property a genuinely homely feel rather than a standard hotel restaurant, and a large, stylish garden with plenty of comfortable seating extends the stay outdoors. Free Wi-Fi and home-cooked food are both highlighted as strengths of the property, and the inn sits a thirty-minute drive from both Alton Towers and Uttoxeter Racecourse, with free parking available throughout the stay. That homely, family-run character is what regularly draws guests back for a second Staffordshire trip in future years.
- Family-run inn
- Log fire dining
- Large garden
- Free parking
Our take
This inn suits families who value a genuinely family-run, homely atmosphere over a larger hotel's amenities, particularly those happy with a slightly longer thirty-minute drive to Alton Towers in exchange for home-cooked food and a real log fire. It is a good fit for a relaxed countryside evening rather than families wanting on-site entertainment for children.
- ✓Sit by the real log fire for dinner rather than choosing a table elsewhere, since it is one of the inn's defining features.
- ✓Allow the full thirty-minute drive to Alton Towers in your morning schedule, longer than some of the closer countryside options.
- ✓Use the large garden for an evening outdoors if the weather allows, since the seating area is genuinely spacious for a village inn.
Why we love it
- Genuinely family-run atmosphere
- Real log fire in the pub
- Large, stylish garden
- Home-cooked food
Why guests love itFamilies staying at The Dog & Doublet Inn regularly mention the home-cooked food and real log fire as the reason the stay felt different from a standard hotel, giving the evening a genuinely homely atmosphere after a day at the waterpark. The large garden gets used often when the weather cooperates, with plenty of comfortable seating for a group. The thirty-minute drive to Alton Towers is longer than some alternatives, which families weigh against the inn's family-run character.