England
Cheddar Gorge
Vertical limestone walls hiding Britain's oldest skeleton and caves that drip with stalactites.
Limestone cliffs rise vertically from the road, three hundred feet of pale rock hiding caves that have sheltered humans for nine thousand years. Cheddar Gorge in Somerset cuts through the Mendip Hills with a drama that feels continental rather than English.
Cheddar Gorge, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, is the largest gorge in England at just over a mile long and 137 metres deep. Gough's Cave, within the gorge, yielded Britain's oldest complete skeleton — Cheddar Man, dated to approximately 7150 BC — now displayed in the Natural History Museum. The caves also contain stalactite formations deposited over 500,000 years. The gorge's rim walk, the Cheddar Gorge Cliff-Top Walk, follows the South West Coast Path for three miles above the vertical walls with views across the Somerset Levels to Glastonbury Tor. The Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company produces the only cave-aged cheddar made in Cheddar itself, using milk from local herds. Rock climbing routes on the gorge walls range from VS to E7, attracting climbers year-round.
Family
The caves mesmerise children — stalactites, an ancient skeleton, and underground rivers. Combine with the cliff-top walk and the cheese tasting for a day that teaches through wonder.
Friends
The gorge offers climbing, caving, and a cliff-top walk that earns the cider afterwards. Tackle the Jacob's Ladder staircase — 274 steps — and argue about who reached the top first.
- The 400-foot limestone cliffs are Britain's largest gorge — the road through the bottom feels like driving through a cathedral.
- Gough's Cave contains the oldest complete skeleton in Britain — 9,000 years old and still in the spot where he was laid.
- The 274 steps of Jacob's Ladder climb to the clifftop, where the Gorge Walk continues along the rim with vertigo-inducing views.
- Cheddar cheese was aged in these caves for centuries — the constant temperature creates conditions that factories cannot replicate.
Cheddar cheese from the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company — made in caves, aged in caves, tasted in caves.
Cider from Rich's Farmhouse, a ten-minute drive into the Somerset Levels.
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