Cheddar Gorge and Caves

Get ready to explore the mysterious chambers of a cave that’s over 500,000 years old! Duck into secret caverns, see the ancient elders’ meeting chamber, and prepare to be amazed at the incredible vistas created by stalagmites and stalactites.

Excavated in the late nineteenth century, Gough’s cave is the largest of our show caves, widely considered as one of the finest in the country. The formation of this cave began over half a million years ago, when river water started dissolving the limestone rock. The resulting cathedral-like caverns are decorated with unbelievable rock formations; you’ll be astounded by the soaring chambers of St Paul’s Cathedral and the towering spires of Solomon’s Temple.

Audio guides are available to help bring the cave to life; telling the amazing story of its Ice Age creation, Stone Age occupation, Victorian exploration by Richard Gough (whom the cave is named after) and the discovery of the Cheddar Man skeleton. There’s even a special version for our younger explorers!

Brand new atmospheric lighting enhances the natural beauty of the cave, creating illusions of glacial landscapes, and highlighting some of the most fascinating features. (Don’t forget to look out for the Black Cat of Cheddar – a shadow cast by the light that looks like a cat wearing a bow-tie!)

You’ll enjoy a year round constant temperature of 11C, keeping you cool in summer and warm in winter. This also creates the perfect conditions for ageing the world famous Cheddar cheese! Shelves of maturing cheese can even be seen within the cave.

Gough's Cave also features a new air purifying system, to circulate and purify the air throughout the caves for enhanced visitor comfort.

This is the perfect way to experience Cheddar from a whole different perspective! After all, Cheddar’s not just spectacular on the surface, it’s spectacular underground as well. Suitable for all ability levels, we’ll have you exploring subterranean caverns in no time.

You’ll be led through the admiring guests in Gough’s Cave to start your expedition into the depths of the caves. Switch on your head torch and get ready to feel like you’ve entered a lost world. You’ll need to climb up to the Mushroom Chamber, crawl through the Sand Chamber and descend over 40ft into the heart of the cave system, but don’t worry our expert cavers will be on hand to help you the entire way.

Your route out is just as exhilarating. Don’t look down as you crawl across the Bottomless Pit and slip head first through the Letterbox. You’ll be both proud and muddy when you finish this adventure.

So you’ve seen the awe-inspiring cliff faces of Cheddar Gorge, stretching to a height of over 450ft, but can you imagine climbing them? That’s exactly what you will be doing on a rock climbing experience.

Our experienced instructors will be on hand to show you the ropes (literally!) and, whatever your ability, have you climbing like a pro in no time. You’ll be led past admiring onlookers to the base of one of our 50ft high outdoor climbing walls, before it's time to begin the adventure.

There are many ascent routes you can choose from, ranging from very easy to quite difficult. How many can you conquer during your session? And don’t worry about coming back down again – that’s the easy part. At the top of each climb you are lowered off your climbing rope by your instructor and given the chance to recover your breath while you belay someone else.