Cheddar Gorge & Caves

Welcome to your route to Cheddar Gorge and Caves. This Site of Special Scientific Interest is made up of the country's largest gorge and stalactite-filled caverns where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, the 9,000-year-old Cheddar Man, was found in 1903. The caves are also used for maturing Cheddar cheese. Along the way you'll cross rivers and meadows and pass through historic market towns.

In the 19th century, Cheddar was famed for its delicious strawberries, which were so popular a special railway line called the Strawberry Line was built between Cheddar and Yatton near Bristol to transport them while they were fresh. The railway was closed down in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, but the old train line is now a 10-mile walking and cycling route and heritage trail.

You're now passing through the quiet village of Rooks Bridge, on the edge of the low-lying landscapes of the Somerset Levels. This area was once occupied by the Romans, and the remains of a 3rd-century Roman villa were found in Rooks Bridge in 1984, with sections of wall, pavement and clay tiles uncovered while ground was being dug up for drainage work.

Close to Rooks Bridge is the hamlet of Tarnock. Tarnock is believed to have received its name from the Celts who lived in the area long before the Romans. Their language was a type of Brittonic, which was spoken in Britain and Brittany in France, before evolving into languages like Welsh, Cornish and Breton.

The next village you pass through is Lower Weare – a separate village from Weare, which is a mile to the south. The River Axe passes through Lower Weare and in the medieval period the village was the site of a river port for the transportation of goods. Lower Weare was given a charter by Edward I in 1280 so it could hold a market, and was important enough to send Members to Parliament. But the village entered into decline once goods started to be transported by road instead of by river.

You're now driving along Cross Lane, with the village of Cross just behind you. Cross's most famous resident was the comedian Frankie Howerd, who lived in a house called Wavering Down in the village for the last 20 years of his life before he died in 1992. He's buried in St Gregory's Church in nearby Weare, and Wavering Down was a museum of memorabilia collected over his lifetime until it was sold in 2010.

The route now runs along the edge of Axbridge, a market town with picturesque half-timbered buildings around a medieval marketplace. Axbridge was a centre for the cloth trade in the Tudor period and you can find out more about its past in the local history museum at the National Trust's King John’s Hunting Lodge. To your right on the edge of town you can see glimpses of Cheddar Reservoir, which holds 1,350 million gallons of water and is a habitat for waterbirds.

You're now arriving in Cheddar, known for its namesake cheese, though today it's made all over the world and there's only one producer left in the village. The River Yeo flows through Cheddar, emerging from the Mendip Hills where it forms Britain's largest underground river system. Cheddar Gorge, formed during the last Ice Age, lies on the edge of the village and is the largest in England at 400 feet deep and three miles long. Gough’s Cave and Cox’s Cave have an impressive array of illuminated stalactites, and the Museum of Prehistory shows how our ancestors survived the Ice Age.

On your left you'll see the entrance to the Cheddar Gorge and Caves car park, which is pay and display. After visiting the caves you can climb the 247 steps up Jacob’s Ladder, at the top of which is a lookout tower for views across the Somerset Levels and Mendip Hills. The top of the ladder is also the start of the three-mile cliff-top walk, which runs up one side of the gorge and comes back down the other so you can see it from all angles.
You have now reached the destination of this route. It is great that I was able to accompany you here. I hope you enjoyed the tour and wish you a pleasant stay and safe onward journey.