How much does an enclosed dog field cost?

It varies by field. One directory's entries, read on 7 October 2026, show sessions from £6 to £12, and a council's own paddock in Crawley charges £10 for 55 minutes. Check the price with the owner, as the directory itself asks you to.

Why do people with reactive dogs hire a field?

Because a booked hour can be empty of other dogs, so the dog can run without meeting any. A public dog park cannot promise that. Ask whether the booking is yours alone before you pay.

How do I know an enclosed dog field is properly fenced?

We cannot tell you, because the fence is the owner's claim and we have not seen it. One directory says its details are not a site inspection. Ask the fence height and type, and look at it when you arrive.

17 October 2026

What is an enclosed dog field? What you hire, and what to ask first

An enclosed dog field is a fenced field, usually a farmer's paddock, that you book by the hour so your dog can run off the lead away from other dogs. It is not a public dog park. The fence is the owner's word, so ask its height and type, whether the booking is yours alone, and what is in the next field.

A border collie running across a grass field towards its owner, beside a tall mesh fence and an open gate to the entrance pen

An enclosed dog field is a field with a fence round it that you pay to use for an hour or so. Many are a farmer's paddock, a few are a council's, and what you get for the money is a place to let a dog run off the lead with nobody else's dog in it. That is why people who walk a reactive dog look for one.

What it is, and what it is not

A field you hire. Somebody owns the land and sells sessions by the hour. Some are exclusive, meaning you are the only booking in the field for that time, and some are not. That is the first thing to find out.

Not a dog park. A dog park is a public pen in a council park, open to every dog in town. A booked hour can be empty of other dogs. A dog park cannot promise that. We keep the two apart everywhere in the app, because they answer different questions for a dog that cannot cope with company.

Sometimes a council runs it. Crawley Borough Council hires out an enclosed paddock of 0.8 acre in Tilgate Park, booked online at £10 for 55 minutes, for up to six dogs. Its page says the fence is 4ft high. Read 7 October 2026. Crawley Borough Council, Tilgate Park Hound Ground.

Every dog park, and every field named like a dog field, in OpenStreetMap for Great Britain, counted on 29 September 2026 (scripts/ingest/dog-fields-osm-summary.json, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL). Each is sorted only by what its own tags say. Of the 387 that do not say, 112 look hired. No class is a claim that a field is secure.

The numbers

What its tags say	Dog parks and fields
Hired: a fee, a booking link, or private with a website	85
Free: a public body runs it, or it is tagged free	52
Private: for customers only, nothing to book by	43
Not stated	387

What the fence tells you, and what it does not

Fields differ more than the name suggests. One directory's entries, read on 7 October 2026, run from 6ft fine mesh to 4ft stock fencing, and from £6 to £12 a session. The same page says its operator details were checked on a date and are "not a site inspection". A fence height is a number somebody told somebody. PawsField.

That is why we do not call a field secure. Nothing we hold has seen the fence. What we pass on is what a listing says and the date somebody last checked it.

What to ask before you book

These are our questions, from what reactive-dog owners need and what listings record. They are not a checklist from any law.

Is the booking for your dog alone? For most people this is the whole point.
How high is the fence, and what is it made of? A number and a material.
What is next to it? Sheep, cattle or other dogs on the far side of the fence are not what you booked.
How do you get in and out? A gate you must open while holding a dog is a different hour from two gates in a row.
How big is it, what does it cost, and what happens if you cancel?
Can you look first? Some owners will say yes.

Where the app stands

Searching for "dog field" or "enclosed field" shows the nearest dog parks from OpenStreetMap, under the line "We don't list fields you can hire yet." That is true today. When we do list them, each will carry its source and the date it was last checked, we will not rank them, and nobody will pay to be shown.

Questions this answers

What is an enclosed dog field?: A fenced field you book by the hour, usually on a farm, so a dog can run off the lead. Some are yours alone for the hour and some are shared, so check which. It is different from a dog park, which is a public pen in a council park that anyone can use.
How much does an enclosed dog field cost?: It varies by field. One directory's entries, read on 7 October 2026, show sessions from £6 to £12, and a council's own paddock in Crawley charges £10 for 55 minutes. Check the price with the owner, as the directory itself asks you to.
Why do people with reactive dogs hire a field?: Because a booked hour can be empty of other dogs, so the dog can run without meeting any. A public dog park cannot promise that. Ask whether the booking is yours alone before you pay.
How do I know an enclosed dog field is properly fenced?: We cannot tell you, because the fence is the owner's claim and we have not seen it. One directory says its details are not a site inspection. Ask the fence height and type, and look at it when you arrive.