Cheddar Gorge is about twenty-five minutes from the front door on a clear road, and rather longer on an August Sunday.
Do the walk first
The clifftop walk is the best of the gorge. Going early gets you the light on the eastern cliffs and a car park with spaces in it. Jacob’s Ladder is the shortcut up - a long flight of steps, and worth it for the lookout tower at the top.
Then the caves
Gough’s Cave is the big one and takes about forty-five minutes. It stays much the same temperature underground whatever the weather is doing outside, which makes it the right call on a hot day and on a wet one. A day ticket covers Gough’s Cave, Jacob’s Ladder and the lookout tower, the Museum of Prehistory and the clifftop walk together.
The village
The bottom of the gorge is gift shops and cheese, and the cheese is the real thing - it is still made and matured in the caves here. Buy it at the end rather than the beginning, unless you fancy carrying it up Jacob’s Ladder.
When to go
- Early, on any day in July or August. The road through the gorge is single file in places and it backs up.
- Out of season the walk is quieter and the caves are still open. February on the clifftop is genuinely good.
- Allow the whole day if you are doing both the walk and the caves. Half a day only buys you one.
On the way back
Axbridge has a square worth ten minutes, and Wells, which calls itself the smallest city in England, is another twenty minutes on if the day is going well.