Now, this is an unusual blog post to be writing, because it's not my own personal experience! But I thought I'd share what my Auntie and Uncle just told me about their recent visit to Cheddar Gorge and Caves.
I hadn't actually heard that the caves had reopened, after their owners Longleat announced they were closing indefinitely. It felt, at the time, like that was a while after Covid struck, but from reading old news paper articles it was only 2020 that they made that announcement, and they reopened them again in 2022.
My Auntie and Uncle in June 2024 paid £24 each for their ticket - except they didn't - they used their tesco points, but it should have been £24 each. That got them access to 2 caves, the museum, and Jacob's Ladder.
They started their day however, with a milkshake at the Lion Rock Tea Rooms, which they could not rave more about. The milkshake was apparently the highlight of their day - that and sitting and watching the wild goats wander around on the hillside of the gorge.
After the phenomenal milkshake, they headed into the first of the caves - apparently it didn't matter which one you did first. Then they did Jacob's Ladder, and then they did the other cave.
One of the caves had quite low access so you had to dip your head apparently, and they heard a family with a young child get told they couldn't take their push chair in (but they could in the other cave). The larger of the caves - or "chambers" was apparently quite spectacular to look at and whilst they couldn't quite decide if it was worth the money, they did agree it was quite a sight to behold, so it just depends how much you value £24 (each) really.
For the walk around the caves, you had a bluetooth handset which you could point at various signs and then hold to your ear to hear information about that particular spot. They were quite impressed by this and said it gave a good level of detail - just when you felt like you'd heard enough, it stopped! But gave you the option to hear more detail if you wanted it.
Jacob's Ladder is 274 steps up to the top of the Gorge. I did it during lock down when it was open and free and I can confirm - it's a hard slog! I remember going to cross the road again once I got to the bottom and my legs nearly giving way when I went to cross. It's steep and long, but we've done it with small kids (4+ I think) - just prepare to have legs of jelly afterwards if you don't do a lot of steep walks.
My Auntie said her main piece of advice from the day would be to do the 3 mile walk at the top of the ladder and not be put off by the look of the terrain. They didn't do it, and regretted it as they later did the "Beyond the View" cinema experience, which showed that after a little bit of bumpy terrain which put them off, it was relatively flat with amazing views.
"Beyond the View" is a 15 minute virtual tour of this unique landscape, where you sit infront of a 270 degree screen, designed to make you feel as if you're flying through the Gorge. Whilst my Auntie and Uncle didn't seem super impressed with the (apparently quite small) Museum of Prehistory, they did enjoy the cinema experience.
After their exploring, they needed some lunch, and noticed a touristy looking cafe at the bottom of the hill called Edelweiss. They didn't much like the look of it, but it was busy so they took that as a good sign - and they were glad they did, as their toasted sandwiches were great. Take away is served from a hatch to the side of the main cafe, and served in takeaway trays - all of which they didn't love the idea of - but the food impressed them so they were more than happy with the experience overall. (Personally I think it's quite a pretty building so I think they must have caught it on a busy / bad day!)
Overall, this was a half day activity but would have been longer, obviously, if they'd done the 3 mile walk at the top of Jacob's Ladder.
