I've just returned from a three night break in Somerset which I booked last year thinking my youngest (17) would enjoy visiting some of the places I loved so much as a child. Of course I knew things would be different to when I visited way back in the 20th century and they were - some for the better, some not so much.
Cheddar, Wookey Hole and the surrounding area has always been a popular holiday and day trip choice for people from the West Midlands and as a Black Country girl, the caves in Somerset were a frequent destination.
I always thought Cheddar offered the best cave experience and remembered from my childhood that I thought Wookey Hole was rather underwhelming. If I'd had to choose for this trip I would probably have not bothered with Wookey, but since admission was included in the rental of the Lodge (Mendip View, booked via Hoseasons) we thought we might as well use the tickets.
Day tickets included access to the cave with a guided tour, adventure golf, circus performance (weekends from March-December and during school holidays), dinosaur valley, a 4D cinema, museum, soft play, mirror maze and a vintage penny arcade.
Well- colour me amazed! Since my last visit to Wookey as a child more caves have been explored and opened to the public, even as recently as 2015 when a tunnel was excavated from the ninth to the 20th chamber.
Our guide Isaac was entertaining and knowledgable and clearly passionate about the caves. Wookey have just introduced an informative light show which Isaac gamely used (for only the second time) and I have to say the blend of human and IT worked very well.
The light show brought stories about the history, geography and folk tales to life while Isaac added more facts, experience of the caves and some wonderful humour. He was happy to answer questions. We felt each stop along the tour was perfectly timed - we weren't overloaded with trivia but could ask questions if we wanted more information.
We bought some of the cave-aged cheese which we'd seen (and sniffed) in Wookey Hole Caves. Personally I hate all cheese but my family said it was delicious!
Most of the additional attractions at Wookey Hole were not terribly interesting to our children who aren't really children any more, but it might make a day ticket seem better value for money for families with younger children? We did however enjoy the pirate themed Adventure Golf despite pouring rain!
Wowed by Wookey we decided more cave exploration would be good so booked day tickets to Cheddar Gorge and Caves (using Tesco Clubcard vouchers) which allowed us access to Gough's Cave, Jacob's Ladder, the Museum of Prehistory and Cox's Cave. FYIO the south side of the gorge, including the two commercial caves and the visitor centre is owned by the Longleat Estate operating as Cheddar Gorge and Caves Ltd.
We booked day tickets for a term time Monday thinking it would be quieter but had not accounted for school parties and coach-loads of tourists. Still, it was pretty quiet as we got there quite early and the drive through the Gorge was absolutely breathtaking. I even saw some goats clambering on the rocks!
We parked easily (£7 for the day) and had a wander around, Even on a damp, cold morning there was so much to admire from the scenery, ducklings and a few but not too many shops. there are lots of places to eat and drink from pasties and cream teas to Greek food. Not too sure about cheese flavoured ice-cream though...
As soon as the attractions opened we headed to Jacob's Ladder and lookout for my 17 and 25 year old to tackle as thunder storms were forecast.
Then we started to walk to Gough's Cave, the larger of the caves but seeing a huge party of school children filing in we turned tail and went to Cox's cave where we were greeted by a lovely woman who explained how the "tour" worked.
Another light show but no human accompanying us. Apparently this "multimedia walkthrough experience" was added in 2016. In some ways it was nice to wander ourselves through the cave but we found the light show quite dull and slightly condescending. It felt geared towards schoolchildren. However the mirror pools were spectacular and some of the mood lighting definitely added to the experience.
On to Gough's Cave which I remembered so clearly from my childhood where the (replica) bones of Cheddar Man lie.
I recall feeling like it was a real adventure, heading underground. I had spotted adverts for "The Illuminated Cave". marking 50 years of Aardman Studios, creators of Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run and Morph (runs until May 31) but was not expecting the characters, lit up, in so many nooks and crannies of the cave.
Maybe it was the illuminated trail, maybe the weather, maybe it was the loud crowd of tourists, maybe it was the hold to your ear audio device which seemed long winded in the explanations of what we were looking at, but we just felt a little underwhelmed by the whole thing.
There were of course opportunities to admire the natural beauty I recalled from previous visits - amazing stalactites and stalagmites, pools, rock formations and the like. (Other visitors in my pictures have been removed with AI)
However we really felt that the cave, named as the second greatest natural wonder in Great Britain and described on Cheddar's own website as one of Britain's most spectacular natural attractions was not enhanced by grinning Aardman lantern figures.
But I understand that modern audiences with access to constant high tech stimulation (Goodness I sound like a right old bag!) might not be so impressed as I was in the 80's by the caves in their raw form, and if such events help preserve the caves for future generations then so be it. However I still remember one of the most exciting moments of my childhood tours was when the guide turned all the lights off so we could experience just how dark underground was.
Cheddar is still a great day out and we enjoyed wandering down the street and admiring the scenery and I was very impressed with every single member of staff we encountered who were all friendly and helpful. You can buy Cheddar cheese of course, including the cave aged cheese.
So sorry Cheddar, but on this occasion Wookey Hole got our vote for best caves. I just really hope that Isaac and his colleagues at Wookey aren't made redundant by the IT and that all the caves retain their natural beauty and don't become a side show in a theme park.
Disclaimer: I was not paid or rewarded in any way to write this post. Views and opinions are honest and my own.