‘Inconsiderate’ dog owners letting their pets befoul a public attraction are a ‘kick in the teeth’ for those who maintain it, a town council spokesperson said in an angry post on social media.

The sun is out, so more people will be visiting Egremont Castle, enjoying the surroundings, and relaxing.

But it’s ‘upsetting’ when a child wanting to play in the centre on the grass cannot due to ‘the amount of dog faeces blatantly left there by inconsiderate dog owners’, an Egremont Town Council spokesperson said.

“It is bad enough when there is dog muck over other parts of the castle that you learn to avoid but to allow dogs to foul right in the middle of the castle is disgusting," they wrote.

“Out of sight comes to mind but it’s a kick in the teeth to all those who work hard to improve the castle for the public to enjoy."

Hard work is put in to maintain the grounds, which ‘unfortunately’ involves ‘cleaning up after these ignorant owners’.

They suggested that dog owners who let their animals dirty the area don’t remember their childhood days in the castle ‘imagining they were knights’ without worrying about returning home covered in ‘dog muck’.

“This Castle is Egremont’s jewel and we should all be proud of it and do all we can to keep it at its best,” they wrote.

Relevant signage is present to say dogs must be leashed and cleaned up after but ‘a small minority’ are ignoring it.

“What more can we do about it?" they asked.

“We can't afford to install CCTV cameras, but more often than not they are not used for the enforcement of things like dog fouling.

“We can ask the enforcement team from Cumberland to carry out more visits but even though the minority are stupid enough and irresponsible enough to let their dogs foul, they are not stupid enough to allow that to happen in front of the enforcement team."