Cheddar Gorge & Caves...and two Gromits!

Over the weekend we joined our fabulous friends, Jade and Chris, on a visit to Cheddar Gorge and Caves!

Admission is free for under 5's, and we saved 15% on our tickets by buying online the day before our visit.

What to see:
* Gough's cave is 75% pushchair friendly (and there is pushchair parking at the 75% point, which you loop back round too as you exit), and the experience is supplemented with an educational audio guide

Scarlett with her audio guide in Gough's Cave

* Cox's cave is not pushchair friendly at all (but there is pushchair parking inside the entrance of the cave), and ends with a lighted Crystal Quest fun element! A tad scary for the little ones, but short'n'sweet.

And here is Daddy Howe and Scarlett completing the Crystal Quest! 

* Open-top sightseeing bus (or the "jungle bus" as Tristan calls it as it had adverts of Longleat safari park's animals printed all over)

Tristan, with Jade and Chris, waiting for the sightseeing bus to start its journey

* Museum of Pre-History was fun for Tristan and Scarlett as there were several interactive elements including discovering artifacts in sand and cave painting! The final part of the exhibition was a tad creepy - a giant de-fleshed skull spinning around....Tristan wasn't too bothered by it, but Scarlett was fascinated by it! (She's a little mini-me, as I adore gore and horror, lol).

Tristan and Chris looking for artifacts in the sand

Scarlett "cave-painting"

* There is also Jacob's ladder and a lookout tower, but as these involved steps (274 + 48) we didn't take advantage.

There are lots of gift shops, tea rooms, and food shops at the bottom of the gorge (you don't need to purchase a ticket to access these shops).  You can also access the The Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company's dairy and see cheese being made (an extra cost of £1.95 for adults, free for under 16's). At the end of the mini tour, you can sample some of the various Cheddar's including cave matured (delicious), oak smoked (more delicious), and mixed with herbs and wild garlic (drool).  After sampling, we treated ourselves to the cave matured and oak smoked Cheddar cheeses.......fabulous on crackers!

Tristan watching Cheddar being made

Parking can be a little bit of a nightmare - being literally in the middle of a village in a gorge, you just need to keep driving up the gorge to find a vacant parking spot (£5 for all day). There are lots of little car parks scattered up the hill. Please do be careful when travelling with kiddies as there aren't any pavements down to the caves and shops.

It was also a great opportunity to tick-off two more Gromits! The one at Cheddar Gorge, and we popped to Lye Cross Farm too!

I was also a little naughty grabbing some free advertising on the "cave-painting" wall at the exit of Gough's Cave....did anyone see it?