How Ashford's council licenses dog boarders
Ashford Borough Council is the licensing authority for the whole of this directory's coverage: Ashford town, Ashford North and Kennington, Ashford Villages and Wye, and Tenterden all sit inside the same borough boundary. In England, boarding kennels, home boarding and day care are all licensed activities under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, and it's the council that issues and renews the licence for each one.
How the register works here
Ashford Borough Council runs its own public register, but that page wasn't read directly for this listing; instead, the facts here come from a third-party mirror of the council's licensing records. That mirror gives a licence number, licence type and expiry date, but not a star score, for any of the ten businesses confirmed on it.
| Business | Licence type | Licence number | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashford Pet Care | Dog home boarding | LC202404-5545 | Apr 2028 |
| Brook Farm Home Boarding | Dog home boarding, dog day care | LC202404-7718 | Feb 2029 |
| The Dog Lodge | Dog boarding | LC202404-7097 | Feb 2029 |
| Haven Boarding Kennels & Cattery | Dog boarding, cat boarding | LC202404-2664 | Dec 2026 |
| Lizzie's Dog School and Daycare | Dog day care | LC202511-14842 | Nov 2027 |
| Ransley House Kennels and Cattery | Dog boarding, cat boarding | LC202404-2665 | Dec 2026 |
| Tails of the Lake | Dog day care | LC202404-3895 | Oct 2027 |
| We Love Pets Ashford | Dog home boarding | LC202404-6739 | Oct 2026 |
| By the Bridge Home Dog Boarding | Not found on the register checked | — | — |
| Courtfield Kennels & Cattery | Not found on the register checked | — | — |
Why you won't see a star score on this page
England's licensing regulations do allow for a 1-to-5 star inspection score, and Ashford Borough Council does assess and issue one as part of the licence. This directory shows a council star score only where it can read it directly from a council's own register or a national register it trusts, and for Ashford that figure isn't available through the mirror checked here. That's a limit of the source used, not a claim that Ashford's licensed boarders and day cares have no star score at all, and it's a different thing entirely from any customer rating.
The two businesses not found on the register
By the Bridge Home Dog Boarding and Courtfield Kennels & Cattery both say on their own websites that they're licensed by Ashford Borough Council, but neither could be matched to an entry on the mirror checked for this listing. That doesn't mean either claim is false; a licence can exist under a slightly different trading name, or the mirror may simply be incomplete. Ask either business directly for its licence number, and you can then check that number against the council's own records yourself.
What a licence covers, regardless of the star question
Whether or not a star score is visible, every licensed business in Ashford and Tenterden has been assessed against the same 2018 regulations covering space, exercise, feeding, record-keeping and how many dogs may be kept at once. A licence doesn't sit still once granted: the council can revoke or refuse to renew one if a business falls below standard, so a current licence and its expiry date are worth checking, even without a star figure attached.