Somerset Caves

[Spinal]

Next week I have a friend coming over from Italy, and I promised to bring her to see the caves in Somerset.

We were planning to go see the Cheddar Cave & Gorge; as well as doing the 1.1/2 hour guided caving thing... but then a colleague mentioned that the Wookey Hole (less than 30 minutes away) is much better...

Any recomendations? Is it possible to do all three in a day? (i.e. cheddar caves, cheddar caving & wookey hole?)

M.

 

[fabes]

Yes, you can do them in a day - most schools in the SW do just that (them were the days.....)

 

[verytalldave]

Wrap up warm. Its well cold underground.............

 

[Sp!ke]

I thought it should get hotter underground - no?

 

[Druk]

Can't speak for Wookey Hole but we did the Gorge caves last summer when on holiday. Thought they were a bit naff on the whole. Very 'touristy' with coloured lights and concrete everywhere. Elf and Safety I suppose but not nearly as spectacular as some of the Derbyshire stuff we've been in. The Gorge is good though and a young lassie did a good job of the Cheddar Cheese Company tour. Wells is close for a stroll if the weather is nice and for plenty places for lunch.

 

[Dieselman]

not nearly as spectacular as some of the Derbyshire stuff we've been in.

I'd agree here. The Blue John caves are excellent.

Many years ago we were queuing to go in and there was a guy flying a model glider on the hilside.....well until it swooped down over the carpark and sraight through the back window of an Austin Maxi with a family inside...

Bit of added entertainment..

 

[flango]

I'd agree here. The Blue John caves are excellent.

Many years ago we were queuing to go in and there was a guy flying a model glider on the hilside.....well until it swooped down over the carpark and sraight through the back window of an Austin Maxi with a family inside...

Bit of added entertainment..

Would agree completely the Blue John Cavern is spectacular and not commercialised like some of the other caves that seem to have beeen supplemented by cubic metres of concrete. Blue John is supposed to be the best unspoilt cavern in the whole of Western Europe. Castleton itself is such a lovely village and it's only about an hours run for us which we do quite freqently in the summer. Some good driving roads out there too between Castleton & Glossop, roll on summer

 

[Spinal]

Perfect, thanks!

It's gonna be a busy day... leaving from London, first Cheddar Gorge, then Wookey Hole... and finally a late dinner in Portsmouth with some friends.

Blue John sounds interesting... might be worth a visit on my next trip! (I love caves... no idea why, they runn shivers down my spine!)

As for temps, their sites advertise they maintain a constant 11C... some might think "wrap up", all I can think of is "perfect for some wine!"

M.

 

[Spinal]

I thought I'd give an update... We went to the caves on Wednesday; it was absolutely fantastic!

We started with Gough's cave, then went caving with a guide, continued with Cox's cave, the museum and the 274 steps to the observation tower. A quick drive to Wookey hole, an even quicker lunch at the "built-in" cafe and a guide around the Wookey caves.

The caving was easily the best part of the trip, absolutely terrorizing when I got stuck in a hole who knows how deep in the rock (I'm 6'2" and have fairly wide shoulders); but a deep breath later and a bit of wriggling I managed to continue. Also extremely worrying was clambering 6-inches from a drop into... well, nothingness as my head-lamp didn't reach that far!

The worst part was lunch at Wookey hole... they had three options:
- Eggs on toast
- Beans on toast
- Chicked pie on toast

other than the toast, everything else was microwaved, dry and tasteless... and the service was no better!

The actual caves were amazing, Cox's cave looked a bit too artificial with the coloured lights but as we were the only visitors it was really quite beatiful. Similarly, Gough's cave looked amazing, but the audio-guides were a bit childish and elementary. Again, being totally alone was splendid! Wookey hole was fun, the "real" guide (as a pose to audio-recordings) was a big plus, as soon as he realised we weren't too keen on the "stretch-of-the-immagination" animals in the rocks, he went into a more detailed geomineral explanation of how the caves were formed and what minerals were found (and subsequently extracted); so I was very pleased with those.

The drive back was a bit annoying as my GPS sent me through Salisbury's center (we went to Portsmouth for the night); but nothing too bad. I still haven't tried the cheddar (I bought some both in Cheddar and in Wookey; going to see if I can taste the difference )

Overall the trip was definetly a success; and I need to thank you for helping with the planning! I can still hear the dripping water in the caves when I close my eyes (I don't think I had ever been in a place with such an absence of light, it was truly shocking, stunning and unforgettable!)

M.

 

[CE230]

There's a cave very close to Buxton that has a brilliant tour guide, he does it part time when he's not in the Antarctic with the British Expedition. Well worth a visit.

 

[Gollom]

I thought I'd give an update... We went to the caves on Wednesday; it was absolutely fantastic!

We started with Gough's cave, then went caving with a guide, continued with Cox's cave, the museum and the 274 steps to the observation tower. A quick drive to Wookey hole, an even quicker lunch at the "built-in" cafe and a guide around the Wookey caves.

The caving was easily the best part of the trip, absolutely terrorizing when I got stuck in a hole who knows how deep in the rock (I'm 6'2" and have fairly wide shoulders); but a deep breath later and a bit of wriggling I managed to continue. Also extremely worrying was clambering 6-inches from a drop into... well, nothingness as my head-lamp didn't reach that far!

The worst part was lunch at Wookey hole... they had three options:
- Eggs on toast
- Beans on toast
- Chicked pie on toast

other than the toast, everything else was microwaved, dry and tasteless... and the service was no better!

The actual caves were amazing, Cox's cave looked a bit too artificial with the coloured lights but as we were the only visitors it was really quite beatiful. Similarly, Gough's cave looked amazing, but the audio-guides were a bit childish and elementary. Again, being totally alone was splendid! Wookey hole was fun, the "real" guide (as a pose to audio-recordings) was a big plus, as soon as he realised we weren't too keen on the "stretch-of-the-immagination" animals in the rocks, he went into a more detailed geomineral explanation of how the caves were formed and what minerals were found (and subsequently extracted); so I was very pleased with those.

The drive back was a bit annoying as my GPS sent me through Salisbury's center (we went to Portsmouth for the night); but nothing too bad. I still haven't tried the cheddar (I bought some both in Cheddar and in Wookey; going to see if I can taste the difference )

Overall the trip was definetly a success; and I need to thank you for helping with the planning! I can still hear the dripping water in the caves when I close my eyes (I don't think I had ever been in a place with such an absence of light, it was truly shocking, stunning and unforgettable!)

M.

Glad your visitor enjoyed. But doesn't the state of food in places like this make you ashamed? I'm reasonably well travelled and have yet to see other European countries throw out food as bad. OK, sometimes it has not been "to-die-for" but never as bad as you describe here!

 

[verytalldave]

If you like things underground, THIS is an excellent way to spend an afternoon. I have been there twice and might go again this year...........

http://www.secretnuclearbunker.com/

 

[Spinal]

Glad your visitor enjoyed. But doesn't the state of food in places like this make you ashamed? I'm reasonably well travelled and have yet to see other European countries throw out food as bad. OK, sometimes it has not been "to-die-for" but never as bad as you describe here!

I've had some worryingly bad food around the world; as a general rule, as a spot gets more touristic, the quality of the food goes down. I think it's because they don't really care about repeat customers...

We did try going to the pub across the street, but we were late (14:30) and the pub just stopped serving food... At least the microwaved "edibles" (not going to call it food ) didn't get us sick, like in some other places I've been!

Dave: re. the bunkers, I've been to that bunker before, utterly fascinating! I actually went there by mistake; there is a paintball site right next to it which I was going too... and ended up being enthralled by the touristic signs with "SECRET NUCLEAR BUNKER, this way" on them

On a side note, I thought I'd upload a picture or two of our caving experience... being 6'2" it was a tight squeeze at times; and really not fair as the young lady I went with was quite a bit smaller than me, quite a bit more agile than me and quite a bit stronger than me - thus making me look like a buffoon when I almost couldn't get out!

The aforementioned lady coping with a tunnel vaguely as high as I'm thick...

That's me... to my left there is the "bottomless pit" - which only recently they found the bottom of. That said, at 700-something meters, it's not something I was keen on discovering personally...

The gap where I almost got stuck... that's her going through it, luckily she didn't have the camera when I went through

M.

 

[popuptoaster]

If you like things underground, THIS is an excellent way to spend an afternoon. I have been there twice and might go again this year...........

http://www.secretnuclearbunker.com/

Thats about 5 mins from my house, the sign for it is always appearing on them TV shows taking the mickey, I get bored shouting at the telly

"it didnt say secret nulcear bunker when it was actually secret"