Cheddar Gorge

The gorge cuts into the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, a limestone canyon carved by meltwater when the ground beneath was frozen and rivers ran on the surface instead of sinking. The road threads the bottom between cliffs that reach roughly 130 metres, with wild goats on the ledges and peregrines nesting on the walls. Below ground, Gough's Cave runs deep into the rock with chambers of flowstone and calcite; Cheddar Man, a skeleton around 10,000 years old and Britain's oldest complete human remains, was found there in 1903. The three-mile clifftop circuit is the better half of a visit, climbing out of the tourist strip onto open limestone grassland where the drop opens beneath you and the Somerset Levels stretch away to Glastonbury Tor.

The landscape

• The gorge road - cliffs rising vertically on both sides of a narrow lane.
• Gough's Cave - flowstone chambers and the Cheddar Man find site.
• The clifftop circuit - a three-mile loop above the drop.
• Feral goats and peregrines - both regularly seen on the cliff faces.

When to go

April to October for the clifftop walk, which is exposed and slippery in wet weather. Weekday mornings avoid the coach parties that arrive from mid-morning. Spring brings rare limestone flowers on the upper grassland. The caves hold a steady cool temperature year-round and make a reasonable wet-weather option.

Good to know

The lower gorge is a commercial strip of gift shops, cheese outlets and paid attractions, and the combined ticket is expensive. Traffic squeezes past walkers on a road with almost no pavement. The clifftop path has steep steps and unfenced edges. Caves are busy and moved through at a fixed pace.

Nearby

Wells with its cathedral is fifteen minutes away, and Glastonbury Tor rises over the Levels to the south.

Key facts