"Pet friendly" on a booking site can mean almost anything: a kennel by the gate, a dog allowed on the lawn but not in the room, a surcharge and a list of rules, or a place that is genuinely glad to see your dog. The listings do not say which, and you find out at check-in. Here are the six questions that sort them out, with The Homestead's own answers, so that you can ask any resort near Delhi the same ones before you book.
Does the dog stay in the room with you?
This is the first question, and the one most listings dodge. A dog that sleeps in a kennel at the back of the property is not on holiday with you; it is in boarding, somewhere unfamiliar, while you are three hundred metres away.
At The Homestead the dog stays in the cottage with you. There are two cottages that take dogs, Kingfisher and Woodpecker, each a cottage of its own with its own garden. Dogs stay only in the two cottages, not in the Hideaway Rooms or the suites, and the cottages are described on the pet-friendly page, so you know which one you are booking.
Is there a fenced garden of its own?
A dog that cannot be let out of the door without a lead is a dog on a short holiday. The thing to ask for is a private, fenced garden, so that the first thing in the morning is the door opening onto grass.
Each of the two cottages has a fenced garden of its own, and your car parks right outside, which matters more than it sounds on the day you arrive with a dog, two bags and a bed.
Where can the dog go on the property?
The second thing listings leave out: once the dog is out of the room, where is it welcome? On a farm of 170 acres the answer is most of it. Dogs come on the farm walk, to the play area and along the promenade, and the family that lives on the farm keeps its own dogs, so yours will not be the first through the gate.
The one rule is meal times. Dogs stay out of Glenfern, the restaurant, and the Baradari while meals are on, and tea and light things can come to the cottage instead. Ask the resort you are comparing the same question: where is the dog welcome, and where is it not? A clear answer is a good sign. A vague one means "the lawn, probably".
What does the drive from Delhi look like with a dog?
The farm is about 250 km from Delhi and about five and a half hours by road, which with a dog is the right length: far enough to be somewhere else, near enough to do in a morning. The road is NH9 out of Delhi through Ghaziabad, Hapur, Gajraula and Moradabad, then north for Kashipur and Ramnagar; the farm is fifteen minutes beyond Ramnagar. Getting here has the detail, and the pin to follow for the last stretch.
With a dog, leave early. Clearing Delhi before the traffic saves the better part of an hour and keeps the car cool. Stop once, for breakfast on the highway, with the lead on before the door opens. Carry the dog's water, its own bowl and its own bed, since the smell of the bed is what makes a strange room familiar. Ramnagar is the last town, with fuel and a market, if anything has been forgotten.
From Gurgaon, add an hour for the crossing to NH9; from Noida, join NH9 at Ghaziabad without crossing Delhi at all.
What should you tell the resort before you book?
Say the dog is coming, when you book, and say what kind. A place that is honestly pet friendly will tell you what it needs from you, and a place that is not will start listing conditions. At The Homestead, tell the house when you book that a dog is coming, and it puts you in one of the two cottages. If you would like a cottage with either of the two packages, say so; both can be taken in a cottage.
What does the dog do while you are on safari?
Dogs cannot go into the park, and a jeep safari is three hours, so plan for it. The dog waits in the cottage with its garden, or one of you stays, and plenty of guests choose the afternoon slot so the morning is the dog's. The safari is booked by the house at cost for whichever slot you want. Some guests with dogs skip the park altogether and have the farm instead, and nobody thinks less of them.
Is it really a resort?
No, and this is the last question to ask any "pet-friendly resort near Delhi": what is it, actually? The Homestead is a farm of 170 acres near Jim Corbett National Park, farmed by the Puri family since 1952, with thirteen rooms for guests. It has what a resort would have, a pool, a jacuzzi, a hammam, mini golf, pickleball and an observatory, but the dog is a guest on a farm, with a walk through the orchard at first light, and that is the difference. The rooms and cottages are on the official booking site; the two cottages are the ones to book with a dog.
A short checklist
Copy this into a message to any resort before you book:
- Does the dog stay in the room with us?
- Is there a private, fenced garden?
- Where on the property is the dog welcome, and where not?
- Can we park beside the room?
- What do you need from us before we come?
- What is there for the dog to do, and for us, apart from the safari?
The answers tell you more than the listing does.
