Cheddar Gorge & Caves, Cheddar

What a fantastic place to take the kids! we had soo much fun dipping in and out of the caves, my daughter feeling like a real life dora the explorer! we brought a picnic with the hope of eating in a picnic area, but even better we were able to sit at the entrance of one of the smaller caves to eat! we had a very informative guide on our way around who was able to translate all the facts into childrens language and make it all semm very very interesting! definatly visit again soon! but just make sure you bring the correct shoes, flip flops a no no !

Exploring underground for a change, we had a super day out at Cheddar Gorge in August. A family ticket cost £48, covering all the main attractions in the village. We started the day by taking the open top bus tour – a great way to get an overview of the village that invented Cheddar cheese! At Gough’s Cave, you are given audio guide to follow at your own pace. We learnt a lot about geology and how the cave was discovered. The underground chambers are stunning. The children’s version of the audio guide keeps even younger children entertained for the duration of the visit – it took us about two hours but you can move through quicker if you skip parts of the audio tour. Cox’s cave is much more fun for children – they can do the “Crystal Quest” and defeat evil – it made me jump out of my skin a couple of times! There is a small museum which is very interesting. We climbed up to the lookout tower, however did not complete the three mile circular walk, as it started to rain very heavily. Be warned – although the guides say gorge top walk takes around two hours, it will take families with children much longer! we manged to do about an eighth of the distance in ~45minutes (with stops for photo shoots and snacks)

Cheddar gorge and caves in Cheddar, Somerset is a place of adventure and fun for kids of all ages. There are two caves that are open to the public – Gough’s Cave and Cox’s Cave – and when you visit these you can see a variety of stalagmites and stalactites. You can also visit a museum on the history of the gorge and see exhibitions on the famous ‘Cheddar Man’ – a 9000 year old skeleton that was discovered about 100 years ago. There is an open-top tour bus that you can take around the site and you can get more information on the area here also. There are plenty of places to eat at the gorge and lots of toilet and baby changing facilities.

The Gorge is a cool place to take older children, it’s a great experience for them. We enjoyed Gough’s Cave, it was much larger than I expected. My son is not one for stopping to look at interesting features though and wanted to zoom round as fast as we could. We were visiting with another family but had to leave them behind as they were not moving so fast. They came out an hour behind us which shows you can be as quick or slow as you like. Just up the road there is a Cannibal Museum. I was hoping to miss this out but my son was desperate to go in and it was included in our ticket price. It was quite small but interesting and my son really enjoyed seeing the bones, skulls and ancient weapons they had in there. We finished off with a trip to Cox’s Cave. This was pretty dark but we did get all the way round. The guide told quite a long story at the end which my son got bored of but he enjoyed the special light effects.

Cheddar Gorge provides a brilliant day out for families; we really loved it! Gough’s Caves are fascinating and our older children were interested in listening to the audio guides that come with the ticket price. Younger children of course were not so interested in the historic aspect to the caves but loved hopping around and marvelling at the surroundings as though we were on another galaxy! Half way along the road between the two main caves, the road crosses a little stream, where we saw a tiny water vole swimming about getting food and the children proclaimed this the best bit of the day!

We had a fantastic day at Cheddar Gorge and will definitely return! The route is all laid out – you start at the largest set of caves (Gough’s Caves) at the top of the hill and work your way down the rocky valley road to the Crystal Quest Caves. Gough Caves were stunning and very engaging; the stalagmites and stalactites in the final chamber are phenomenal, very enchanting and a great learning experience for kids. The Crystal Quest caves are incredibly thin and not good for the claustrophobic! Unfortunately, they actually scared my small children, so we didn’t go in, but heard some good reports on a ‘spooky’ set up inside.

Cheddar Caves and Gorge are both on an impressive scale. The caves are large and cavernous as you would expect!. We found the tour really informative and liked hearing all about the famous cheddar man as well as marveling at the spectacular Stalagmites and Stalactites. We also visited the other exhibitions, one of which was about torture so not suitable for most children! There were a variety of shops selling vast quanities of Cheddar and Scrumpy so we were more than happy to part with some of our hard earned cash for this. The gorge was also beautiful and gave you breathtaking views but is a strenuous walk. We really enjoyed this day out but we did find it a little expensive

Cheddar Gorge is a spectacular place and the open-top bus tour is really worth doing (this runs at various times depending on the time of year). It takes you up through the gorge (actually a prehistoric riverbed) so you can see the huge rock faces. The first cave you come to is Gough’s cave. This is a beautiful, very large cave and you can take a free audio guide to tell you about all parts of it. I found the cave quite dark though not scarily so. My son enjoyed running about but the floors are quite damp and it’s cold inside so it’s worth wearing sturdy shoes and a jumper. There are amazing stalagmites and stalactites as well as underground lakes and calcite waterfalls. It takes between 30mins and 1hour to get round depending on how quick you are. The second cave is Cox’s cave. This one is much smaller and darker too with mirror pools and colourful calcite formations. There is a crystal quest where you can enjoy the story of a crystal being guarded by a dragon. Not one to go in if you are claustrophobic or for the very young. My son (7yrs) really liked it though. After the caves you can climb up lots of steps (274 in fact) to an old lookout tower where you can see for miles and miles. If you are feeling energetic you can then go on a 3 mile cliff-top gorge walk. We didn’t get time to do this but apparently there are some great views. There are also plenty of shops and tearooms in the gorge. It’s definitely worth buying some cheddar cheese while you are here, the shop at the entrance to the gorge has samples you can try. Overall a great family day out. We initially thought the tickets were quite expensive but having said that we thoroughly enjoyed the day.