Spring break in Somerset
Sam and Rosemary Johnson enjoyed a spring break exploring Cheddar Gorge
THE FIRST QUARTER of 2019 had passed and our beloved caravan had yet to come out of winter hibernation.
For my birthday weekend in early April, I was determined to put that right by taking it to Cheddar Gorge, which is one of many places I had wanted to visit for a long time, but never quite got around to doing so.
The trip would also give our new Volkswagen Arteon the chance to prove itself as a towing vehicle.
Unfortunately, if somewhat predictably, we left home later than planned and our journey south from the Midlands was plagued by traffic hold-ups.
We finally arrived at Cheddar Bridge Touring Park late on the Friday afternoon. But this still gave us time to select a pitch by the gently flowing Cheddar Yeo river and briefly relax with a book, before it got too dark to read and we became hungry.
A 10-minute walk along the route of the former railway brought us to the
Bath Arms in Cheddar village. The food and drink there were excellent, and set us up for our planned exploration of Cheddar Gorge the following day.
Cliffs and caves
At the gorge, we discovered that the tickets permit admission to five attractions within a 24-hour period. You cannot pay to visit each one individually – it’s all or nothing.
Duly relieved of £19.95 each (had we done our homework, we could have saved £6 by booking online up until midnight the day before), we headed off to the first of the attractions, Gough’s Cave, where the audio-guided tour was about to start.
Named after the family who excavated this spectacular cave to its current extent in the late 19th century, the formation of the cave began some half a million years ago, when the movement of river water started to dissolve the limestone.
Today the cave is more than two miles long and 100m deep, and with the Cheddar Yeo river still flowing through it, this is one of the largest underground river systems in the world. It’s remarkable for its glorious
arrays of stalactites and stalagmites (remember: stalagmites might one day reach the ceiling, while stalactites have to hold tight to it) and for the discovery of Cheddar Man. At about 9000 years old, this is the oldest complete skeleton ever found in Britain.
The original is now in the Natural History Museum in London, but a replica remains inside the cave. Incredibly, he has been linked by DNA to a retired schoolteacher still living in Somerset, even though they are separated by some 300 generations!
Climbing the ladder
After our return to daylight and a quick lunch, we moved on to the next attraction, Jacob’s Ladder.
This very steep flight of 274 steps goes up the southern face of the gorge. Well, the signs said 274 steps, but that’s at least a thousand less than it felt like! When you do finally reach the top and have caught your breath, the first sight that awaits you is the lookout tower, which involves a climb of another 48 steps to get to its top.
It’s well worth the extra effort, though, because the views are sensational. To the south are the beautiful watermeadows of the Somerset Levels, while towards the west, on a clear day, you can see as far as Exmoor – a distance of about 30 miles.
Clifftop hiking
Given that her legs are shorter than mine, and were aching correspondingly more from the climb – that was her excuse and she was sticking to it – Rose decided that she would prefer to give the three-mile circular walk around the top of the gorge a miss, in favour of a nice sit-down in a comfy pub.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t bear to miss the opportunity. My choice proved justified after a few hundred yards, when I spotted some of the local feral goats, introduced to the area back in the 1990s to promote conservation. The path then rises to 400ft above the gorge, at which point, the views allow you to admire the imposing vistas of the gorge itself and the quintessentially English beauty of the village beyond.
After this, the path makes a steep descent to the road, then climbs through woodland to reach the other side of the gorge.
Sadly, we were a bit too early for bluebell season, but it was easy to see that in late spring, this part of the walk would be quite spectacular. Then came an encounter with some more goats, before the descent to the village and welcome liquid refreshment.
The end of the walk was bittersweet
– if I had followed the path the opposite way around the gorge, I could have seen the views from the lookout tower before descending Jacob’s Ladder free of charge.
After all of that walking, spending the
‘The views are sensational. To the south are the beautiful watermeadows of the Somerset Levels, and to the west, you can see as far as Exmoor’
evening polishing off the bottle of Malbec that had been a welcome birthday gift from the in-laws proved a mistake. Next morning, my head was not in the best of conditions and a cooked breakfast in the first café we found seemed to make everything worse.
Other attractions
It’s possible this affected my judgment, but after the previous day’s enjoyment of Gough’s Cave and Jacob’s Ladder, the three remaining attractions we had paid for were a little bit of an anticlimax.
The animated display in Cox’s Cave may be entertaining for small children, but represents less of a diversion for those who are more advanced in age!
The Museum of Prehistory has another display on Cheddar Man, but ultimately this added little to what we had learned in Gough’s Cave. Beyond the View, a 15-minute film composed largely of aerial videography of the gorge, is a pleasant way to take the weight off your feet. But it’s no substitute for taking that walk around the gorge and experiencing those views for yourself.
We also visited the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company, where the smell of fermenting milk combined with the after-effects of the wine to make me feel a little nauseous. You, on the other hand, might be more inclined to learn all about cheesemaking!
Depending on the time of day that you visit, you might be able to watch the cheese being made – glass screens separate you from the activities – and you’ll also learn that some of the cheese is stored in Gough’s Cave to mature – the temperature in the cave stays at a fairly constant 11°C.
All too soon it was time to leave beautiful Cheddar Gorge. We had thoroughly enjoyed our trip, but next time decided that we wouldn’t necessarily bother with the paid attractions – after all, there’s no denying that it’s nature’s beauty that is the real attraction here.