Whatever the season, cheddar gorge makes for an exceptional day out and is is place that will fill you with awe and fascination. With a herd of feral goats who nimbly climb its sides, quaint shops in the valley bottom, numerous walking trails and breathtaking views from the top – it was by far one of the highlights of our week away!
Cheddar Gorge is a limestone gorge located in the Mendip Hills, near the village of Cheddar, Somerset, England and is a world-famous site of natural beauty. It is Britain’s biggest gorge with cliffs rising over 450 ft and completely took our breath away – it was like something from a movie set or a canyon in a far off land! And, though it was a rather wet day when we chose to go (good old English Summers!), it didn’t stop us climbing the 274 steps of Jacob’s ladder to get a better view of this incredible natural phenomena.
What to do there
We drove through the gorge and had a picnic looking up and admiring it. The kids climbed on some of the limestone and screeched with excitement as they spotted the goats above them. We then drove further down it towards Cheddar, where we paid to park for a couple of hours. Leaving the car, we wandered the main street; sampling some cheddar cheese (ages old and matured in the caves beneath us) and then climbed Jacob’s ladder and walked up over the top of the gorge.
It was wet, a steep climb and a little slippery in places, but absolutely worth it. The views were outstanding and we were all super excited and impressed being there. On our way back we looked in a couple more of the gift shops and then made our way back to the car, for another drive through the gorge before going onto Bath!
We would have loved to have taken the cave tours (it would have been super amazing) to both see them and also learn about the oldest human skeleton found in them (900 years old). But unfortunately covid restrictions have closed them at the moment. We still had the best day though; being there, looking round the cute shops, sampling some cave matured cheddar cheese and taking a hike up the gorge!
What a place! Get yourself there if you are ever near by – the whole family loved it and it was obviously a budget friendly, marvellous day out.
