We were lucky this morning. We woke up and the weather was still sunny, blue and quite warm for our trip to Cheddar Gorge and the Caves.

First, Daisy and I walked down to visit the donkeys.  They came to say hello. 

We were going in two parties: the two Old Fogies were in one car and the Youngsters in the other. The reason we split like this was Bob’s knee is not up to either cave or Jacob’s Ladder so we Oldies were going to content ourselves with a slow stopping drive up and down the Gorge and a mooch around Cheddar itself whilst the more fit party tackled the more strenuous aspects of the Gorge.

Just to say that physical incapacity is no reason not to visit the Gorge and have a lovely time as Bob and I found out. The Gorge is a spectacular slash in the earth, great limestone cliffs towering upwards, the road wending along the bottom, narrowly around dramatic curves. It is England’s largest gorge, stretching for 3 miles and the depth is up to 137m. There are a number of show caves including Gough’s Cave where Cheddar Man, Britain’s oldest complete skeleton dating back 9000 years was found. We thoroughly enjoyed driving through it twice. It was reasonably quiet at 1030 in the morning for a Bank Holiday Saturday, a pleasant surprise. By 1pm the village in particular was a hellhole though, so advice is : GO EARLY. There are a lot of pull offs on either side of the road where you can pull up, take photos, look around and drink in the grandeur, even clamber/scramble up a ways. We saw plenty of people doing this plus a climbing class of children learning how to ascend sheer rock walls.

We spent about 2 hours in the Gorge and then we drove back to Cheddar and had a short wander. To be honest, it’s uber-touristy. I didn’t like it much.

We decided to do a bit of shopping at the farm shop we’d called at on our first day, which we did, and then we drove into Axbridge to see the medieval market square. I remember that from decades ago. We were delighted to find a farmer’s market in process – incredibly picturesque in the sun. We range the Youngsters and found they were having a coffee n a cafe in Cheddar having completed all their activities except the Gorge Drive. We tried to go back to join them for lunch but the traffic/parking by then was nightmarish so we drove straight out again. Instead they joined us in Axbridge.

We had a really good fuddle around the market and the lovely square. Bought some nice cheeses and some faggots. The stall owners were all so friendly. We had a cider sitting in the sun outside the Lamb Inn there and planned to have lunch inside. However, once the kids arrived and we went inside we found the food waiting staff to be very unwelcoming and they made it clear that despite their claims of all day service, they just didn’t want us there…..

We decamped to the New Inn nearby and found a different far more welcoming, spacious and quiet world. Had a lovely lunch together. I just had crab cakes but the others tucked in to some delicious plates including fisherman’s pie. A really nice break. They’d loved the caves and preferred Cox’s Cave to Gough’s.

When we opened the door to leave, we found it was pelting down outside (about 4pm). Hammering down. The kids went back to drive the Gorge and we went home. They enjoyed their drive and were awed by the Gorge.

Unfortunately we arrived home to find we’d left our swimwear outside to dry. That was a mistake…. lol….. but did we let it deter us from the hot tub.

Ummmm …. in the case of Bob, Daisy and I the answer was yes…cold, wet swimwear even for a brief moment…ugh….. will have a good wallow in there tomorrow after our day in Glastonbury.