We had a lovely day out in Cheddar Gorge, a place full of things to do; we saw the caves, shopped, dressed as cavemen, made clay pots, ate great food, tasted cheese and walked up 274 steps! There is plenty to do in the Gorge and beautiful sights, in and outside the caves.

Coxes caves was a bit further down and had a Dreamhunters exhibition. Lights and sounds which brought the caves to life were in every area, telling the story of the cavemen ghosts who ran from cave to cave. It was fantastic! Images of cave drawings coming to life, bears and wolves moving around the walls! It was very good and had us all mesmerised.

There was an interactive exhibition we found between the two caves where we were able to dig to find flint tools, draw our own cave drawings and make clay pots.

After the caves and the exhibition we braved the Jacobs Ladder, 274 steps to the top of the ridge. Grandma stayed at the bottom and shopped in the little stone built shops as she has a thing about heights!

The view from the top of the viewing tower was far reaching, Joseph my nine year old said it was very “towery”! We didn’t do the four mile walk around the top of the Gorge and I think we missed even better views because of it, but we had to rescue Grandma from buying geode coasters and a walnut cheese board. And it was time for lunch.

The cheese factory was our last stop, a chance to see the cheese making process and try lots of cheese afterwards. It takes a few days so you only see one stage, maybe two, but the video of the whole process had Grandma transfixed! We left her to it and ate more cheese.

Watch this space!

For the more adventurous families and groups there is the chance to book climbing sessions and caving excursions. You can do this at the Gorge or by phone, but they are soon expanding. There are more climbing ropes going up, auto belay machines going in and an online booking system switching on. Soon there will be much more scope for adventure with climbing, bouldering and caving. By next summer there will be more opportunity for all. We saw a group of teenage climbers near the car park on our way out. Speaking of the car park, parking was very reasonable, paying just £5 for the whole day, being able to move around the different car parks up and down the Gorge.You can buy a ticket that covers all the caves and exhibitions, and If you are a National Trust member, you save 20% on the ticket prices.

NB: Abigail and her family received complimentary entrance into Cheddar Gorge & Caves but all views and opinions are her own.