Cheddar

Cheddar sits where the Mendip Hills meet the Somerset Levels, a village that has lent its name to a cheese eaten the world over yet still feels like a proper working Somerset community. At its edge, the ground splits open into Cheddar Gorge, a limestone ravine with cliffs rising well over 100 metres, carved by meltwater at the end of the last Ice Age. It is the largest gorge in Britain, and the road that winds through it, the B3135, is one of the most dramatic drives in the South West.

Below the cliffs, the village itself is compact and easy to explore on foot, with a market cross, a handful of independent shops and cafes, and Cheddar Reservoir a short walk to the south, popular with walkers, anglers and watersports fans. The caves beneath the gorge, particularly Gough's Cave, are where the 10,000-year-old skeleton known as Cheddar Man was discovered in 1903, and the area remains one of the most important prehistoric sites in the country. Between the natural spectacle above ground and the archaeology below it, Cheddar packs a lot into a small footprint, and makes an easy day trip or a relaxed short break base for exploring the wider Mendips.

Top things to do in Cheddar

Most visitors come for the gorge and caves, but there is more to Cheddar than its headline attraction.

• Cheddar Gorge & Caves — a day ticket covers Gough's Cave, Cox's Cave, the Museum of Prehistory, Jacob's Ladder (274 steps up to a lookout tower) and the clifftop walk, with views across the Somerset Levels.
• Clifftop Walk — a roughly three-mile circular walk along the gorge's rim, steep in places, with some of the best views in Somerset and a good chance of spotting the resident feral goats and Soay sheep that graze the slopes to keep scrub down.
• Cheddar Man and the Museum of Prehistory — home to a facial reconstruction of Britain's oldest nearly complete human skeleton, found in Gough's Cave, alongside finds spanning thousands of years of occupation.
• Cheddar Gorge Cheese Co. — a working dairy in the gorge where you can watch cheddar being made by hand and matured, some of it in the caves themselves, using methods largely unchanged for generations.
• Cheddar Reservoir — a circular walking and cycling route around the reservoir, plus sailing, paddleboarding and fishing for those who want to get on the water.
• Cheddar Ales — a local brewery on Draycott Road with a tap room and shop pouring its own beers alongside sourdough pizza from a wood-fired oven.
• The Strawberry Line — a traffic-free cycling and walking trail built along a former railway line, running from Cheddar towards Yatton and Clevedon, popular with families.

Getting to Cheddar

Cheddar has no railway station of its own; the line through the village closed in the 1960s. The nearest mainline stations are Weston-super-Mare and Bristol Temple Meads, both served by CrossCountry and Great Western Railway, from where bus and taxi connections run to the village, typically taking around 45 minutes to an hour. By road, Cheddar sits just off the A371 between Wells and Axbridge, with the A38 and M5 (Junction 22) a short drive to the west, making it an easy detour for anyone travelling through Somerset. Bristol Airport is around 16 miles north, roughly a 30-minute drive.

Best time to visit Cheddar

Spring brings quieter caves and fresh growth on the gorge's slopes, good conditions for the clifftop walk before the summer crowds arrive. Summer is Cheddar's busiest season, when the gorge road and village can get very full with day-trippers, so an early start pays off. Autumn brings cooler air, fewer visitors and good colour on the wooded lower slopes of the gorge, while winter is quietest of all, with the caves maintaining a steady year-round temperature that makes them a good option even when the weather outside turns wet or cold.

Where to stay in Cheddar

Cheddar has a mix of small hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs in and around the village, along with self-catering cottages that suit a short break exploring the gorge and Mendips. Camping and caravan sites nearby range from simple rural fields to more established touring parks, several within walking distance of the gorge itself.

Food and drink in Cheddar

The village has a modest but decent spread of places to eat, including The Bath Arms and The White Hart pubs, and The Village Cafe & Bakery for a daytime stop. Cheddar Ales' tap room on Draycott Road is worth seeking out for its own beers and wood-fired pizza, and the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Co. shop is the obvious spot to pick up genuine local cheddar, some of it matured in the gorge's caves, to take home.