East Somerset Railway

East Somerset Railway is a heritage steam railway at Cranmore, near Shepton Mallet and about eight miles from Wells. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard the trains and throughout the station areas, travelling free on the 2.5-mile round trip through the Somerset countryside.

The railway runs seasonally from mid-March to October, with steam services on Saturdays and Sundays and additional midweek trains later in the season. Dogs must stay on leads, keep off the carriage seats and can't ride on certain dining trains or selected character event days when the railway hosts children's specials.

Beyond the train ride itself, there are station museum exhibitions and visitor facilities to explore between departures and a large free car park on site makes the logistics easy. It's a proper steam-railway day out where your dog is genuinely part of the journey rather than left behind in the car and the combination of on-train time, platform potter and open-air arrival at the far end gives everyone something to do.