Cavern a good time
THE DEAL: The Bull’s Head Hotel in Chislehurst is a stylish pub with a great beer garden, a tea room and 15 bedrooms. Rooms from €81 for two 4B&B. mirror.co.uk/traveltop10 MERLIN’S CAVE, CORNWALL Free, B&B from €56pp Merlin’s Cave is the larger of two shoreline caves below Tintagel Castle, and Arthurian legend has it that the newborn king was hidden in the 300ft long tunnel by a wizard to protect him from enemies. Richard, the Earl of Cornwall, built the castle in the early 1200s. Find the cave on Tintagel Beach; tickets for Tintagel Castle from €5.50 for kids, €9.30 for adults. english-heritage.org.uk
THE DEAL: The Victorian Atlantic View Hotel, which has a heated pool, overlooks the North Cornwall coast, a mile from Tintagel. B&B from €56pp. 5 mirror.co.uk/traveltop10 HELL-FIRE CAVES, BUCKS From €8.80, B&B doubles from €88
A network of man-made chalk and flint caverns, they were excavated in the mid-1700s for Sir Francis Dashwood, baron and co-founder of the Hell-fire Club. This notorious group comprised important 18th century figures, including William Hogarth, and there were rumours of black magic and sacrifices, drinking and wenching. Tickets from €7 kids, €8.80 adult and €24 family. hellfirecaves.co.uk
THE DEAL: The George and Dragon in West Wycombe is an 18th century inn. B&B from €88.
6 mirror.co.uk/traveltop10 FINGAL’S CAVE, SCOTLAND From €35, B&B from €147
for two Head to tiny Staffa in the Inner Hebrides to explore this unique sea cave, formed of hexagonal basalt. The 227ft cavern inspired Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave). See puffins from May to September. From €35 for a three-hour boat trip from the islands of Iona or Mull. staffatours.com THE DEAL: The St Columba Hotel on the Isle of Iona has a restaurant, organic gardens (check the Purple Majesty potatoes!) and 27 rooms. Rates from €147 for a double B&B. 7 mirror.co.uk/traveltop10
CLIFTON OBSERVATORY AND CAVES, BRISTOL
From €2.80, room for two from €105 Giant’s Cave was, according to local folklore, once home to supersized Goram and Ghyston. It was later used as a snuff mill and observatory. The tunnel leading down to the cave is 200ft long and opens out on to the cliff face 250ft above the Avon Gorge, with views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the River Avon. Tickets from €1.60 for kids, €2.80 for adults. cliftonobservatory.com THE DEAL: The historic Avon Gorge
Hotel is in Bristol’s fashionable Clifton district, from €105 a night. 8 mirror.co.uk/traveltop10 CHEDDAR GORGE & CAVES, SOMERSET From €20, B&B for two
from €130 See a mammoth carving and the skeleton of Cheddar Man, the earliest known human remains in Britain which date back 7,150 years, at Gough’s Cave. The 300ft deep prehistoric cavern is part of Cheddar Gorge. Extending for 1.3 miles, it has chambers with stalactites, stalagmites and rock formations. Then head to Cox’s Cave for the Dream-hunters experience, telling the story of early man. From €14 for kids, €20 adult. cheddargorge.co.uk THE DEAL: Nyland Manor is a luxury B&B on the outskirts of Cheddar Village with six doubles which start at €130 a night. mirror.co.uk/traveltop10
9 LLECHWEDD SLATE CAVERNS, SNOWDONIA From €18, B&B for two from
€82 Head to Snowdonia in North Wales for a newly opened Deep Mine Tour which tells the story of the workers behind the industry that roofed the world. Slate’s story dates back 500 million years, to when deposits of mud and clay were made on an ancient sea bed, but it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that demand exploded. Tickets from €24, family discounts available. llechwedd-slate-caverns. co.uk THE DEAL: Four-star Dolawel Guest House, on the outskirts of Blaenau Ffestiniog, is just a mile from the caverns. Double en suite rooms from €82.
10 mirror.co.uk/traveltop10 MARBLE ARCH CAVES, NORTHERN IRELAND From €11.20, B&B from €85pp
Explore a natural underworld of rivers, waterfalls, passages and chambers surrounding by glistening cave formations in the foothills of Cuilcagh mountain in Co Fermanagh. Journey on foot and by boat through caves with stalactites, translucent mineral veils and calcite cascades. From €7.60 for kids, €11.20 for adults, €27 for a family.marblearchcavesgeopark.com THE DEAL: The Killyhevlin Lakeside Hotel near Enniskillen has great lake views and rooms from €85pp B&B. mirror.co.uk/traveltop10