Ten Minutes of Driving You Remember for Years

Cheddar Gorge is the shortest great drive in Britain and one of the most startling: the B3135 climbs directly through the country's biggest gorge, between limestone walls rising 450 feet, on a road that folds through the cliffs in a sequence of tightening bends. Carved by Ice Age meltwater and riddled with caverns, the gorge gave the world its most famous cheese (aged in these caves for centuries) and Britain's oldest complete skeleton, the 10,000-year-old Cheddar Man found in Gough's Cave. The drive itself takes ten minutes; the place absorbs half a day, between show caves, the clifftop circuit walk, feral goats posing on the crags, and the glorious open Mendip plateau road that continues beyond the top gate toward Priddy. Come at 8 am and you will have one of England's natural wonders entirely to yourself, windows down, in second gear.

Key Stops

Cheddar village. The base of the gorge: car parks, cafés, and the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company, the only dairy still maturing cheddar in the gorge's own caves. Watch the making, taste the cave-matured wheels.

Jacob's Ladder and the Lookout Tower. At the gorge's foot, 274 steps climb to a lookout tower and the start of the cliff-top circuit: a 3-mile round walk along both rims that turns the drive into a proper outing.

Gough's Cave. The showpiece cavern: a self-guided route through chambers of stalagmite and frozen-waterfall calcite, home of Cheddar Man and still the maturing cellar for the cheese. Tickets cover the attraction cluster at the gorge's foot.

The lower gorge and Horseshoe Bend. The road's dramatic heart: cliffs closing overhead as the bends tighten, with the Horseshoe the classic photograph. Use the marked bays; stopping in the roadway is the local sin.

The Pinnacles. The tallest cliff faces, best appreciated by craning from the roadside bays or, better, from the clifftop path directly above them.

Black Rock gate. The top of the gorge, where the cliffs relax into a nature reserve of dry valleys: an easy stroll into Velvet Bottom's old lead-working landscape starts here.

The Mendip plateau road. Beyond the gorge the B3135 runs open and fast across the plateau toward Priddy: a joyful, empty contrast to the canyon below and the natural extension of the drive.

Wookey Hole (nearby). The Mendips' other great cave system, ten minutes over the hill, with its resident witch legend and paper mill.

Wells. England's smallest city, fifteen minutes away: the astonishing west front of Wells Cathedral, the medieval Vicars' Close, and the moated Bishop's Palace make the perfect afternoon pairing.

Driving Tips

Drive it early or late. Between mid-morning and late afternoon in season the gorge fills with pedestrians, coaches, and parked cars; before 9 am or after 5 pm you get the road, the light, and the echo to yourself.

Watch for the goats. A feral herd keeps the cliffs grazed and wanders onto the tarmac at will: they always have right of way, and they know it.

Use the parking bays, not the road. Marked bays line the lower gorge (charges apply at the attraction lots); the carriageway is narrow, and rockfall netting zones are signed for a reason.

Give cyclists room on the climb. The gorge is one of England's famous cycling ascents and a time-trial regular: expect riders mid-lane through the bends.

Walk at least one rim. The clifftop circuit (or just the tower viewpoint via Jacob's Ladder) reveals what the road only hints at: the full trench of the gorge with the Somerset Levels and Glastonbury Tor beyond.

Book cave tickets in school holidays. The caves cap entries on peak days; online booking guarantees the slot and skips the queue.

Make the Mendip loop. Continue on the B3135 to Priddy, return via Burrington Combe (the gorge's smaller sibling, where the hymn Rock of Ages was sheltered into existence), and you have the best short driving circuit in the West Country.

For more information visit: Cheddar Gorge & Caves (Official Site)