Finally!
Hundreds of hours of work went into the inaugural Dog Field of the Year Competition and despite being announced far later than we anticipated (it took two years to run the first Dog Field of the Year competition!), the results are now in!
Before we announce them, it’s important that we share how this all worked!
Phase 1: The People’s Vote
Dog field users in each area were invited to vote for their favourite dog field – the top 3 in each category were announced, county by county as the votes rolled in. Thousands of dog field users voted and dog fields across the country reported a boost in the profile of dog fields and bookings soared!
Spreading the word about dog fields and hearing these reports of increased bookings has been the best part of this entire process and made the grueling admin associated with it worthwhile!
Phase 2: Creating the Criteria
The top three in each category were added to the list and measured against a set of criteria.
(All dog fields considered eligible for the finals have full planning consent, those without were excluded at this stage.)
The secondary criteria were split into categories – general and specialist. The general criteria included elements such as general environment, customer communications, accessibility, facilities and management.
Specialist criteria were also considered by the professionals on the panel – e.g. fencing installation and management, canine enrichment, management of toxic plants, health and safety, branding and profile… and many more!
Each field was booked and visited by a British Dog Fields representative collecting photos, videos and detailed information for each member of the panel who then scored each field based on their own specific criteria.
Phase 3: Combining the Results!
Weighting the votes from the People’s Vote at 50% and The Panel at 50%, the votes were counted and verified!
The panel were also invited to select any fields they felt deserved a special mention and these are also listed in the results!….
The Winners of the British Dog Fields of the Year Are….
Special Mentions
Each panalist was given the opportunity to propose fields for special mentions – these are fields that have something special going on.
- Innovation: The Cove, Woodbridge, Suffolk
- Small Field: Halfpenny Field, Chippenham, Wiltshire
- Biodiversity (working with nature): Horse Meadow, Ettington Really Wild Walks, Warwickshire
- Professionalism: Paws in the Park, Burrough Court, Leicestershire
- Working with the Environment: Blackdown Hills, Honiton, Devon
Keep your eyes peeled as we’ll be showcasing all these dog fields and highlighting some of the factors that lead to the panel choosing these special places to feature in this inaugural British Dog Field of the Year contest.
Scentral Bark, Puppy’s Corner and Ronnie’s Field are in the spotlight for many reasons but every one of these fields is doing something special.
Congratulations!
P.S. Public voting for the 2025 contest begins in October 2024 with next year’s winner being announced in Spring 2025. If you would like to update your listing or you are a new dog field that hasn’t yet been listed here, please visit this page to add or update your details.