On the last day of our holiday we finally got round to visiting the famous Cheddar Gorge and Caves.
We headed out promptly at 10am, waving goodbye to our quaint little cottage. We piled into the car and drove the short ten minute drive into the heart of Cheddar. There are lots of shops and businesses right on the edge of the gorge. They look so interesting.
The caves didn't open until 11am so we killed some time with a coffee in the Costa coffee that is directly next to the entrance. You actually have to exit the cave tour through costa, which does kind of ruin the charm. Costa doesn't really fit with the other independent cafés, tea rooms and shops that surround it. However as it was out of season 90% weren't open. We drank our coffees outside with Nelli and watched and marvelled at the mountain goats until we could go in.
We were the first people into the caves. You could take dogs, so it was also Nellis first cave experience. Our ticket included an audio guide, access to the caves, the gorge mountain top walk, a small museum and a tour of a smaller cave which was aimed at kids. In the summer they also run a bus your. For that reason it was pretty expensive. We only visited the caves and did a little bit of the walk as they rest was basically aimed at children.
We enjoyed the caves, although we visited some caves on our trip to the Peak District earlier in the year so we weren't really seeing anything new. It was pretty cool to see cheddar cheese maturing in the cave but we didn't want to pay £6 for a small slice.
We started the gorge walk but we were tired so only really had a 30 minute wander. I am sure the sights got better further along but it was far less pretty than our other walks (which we didn't have to pay for). We climbed to the took of the viewing tower and had a look out across Cheddar and the surrounding areas.
We didn't bother with the other parts of the ticket as they weren't really our cup of tea. We wouldn't return to the caves, but it's something you should do whilst you are there. We headed off in search of something hearty for lunch.
We passed this brightly coloured cafe/house everyday when passing through cheddar. I was very intrigued so had a look on trip adviser and it was rated very highly. It's a veggie cafe which is a converted living room. I believe the owners still love upstairs. It isn't huge but there are a few seats and sofas inside and a spacious garden outside.
We decided to sit outside as Nelli couldn't settle inside. The staff were beyond friendly and offered to bring blankets to us several times. They even bought out a little treat for Nell.
The menu had a lot of variety and there were about five things I wanted. In the end I opted for the soup of the day which was cauliflower and nutmeg. It was some of the best soup I had ever tried. It was flavoured perfectly and so filling. Rob had the Welsh Rarebit - an obvious choice for him. It was absolutely incredible. We have been meaning to recreate it at home ever since. We were so pleased with our lunch but a little gutted that we hadn't discovered the restaurant sooner.
With our bellies full we headed back home and back to reality.
We had a lovely relaxing pre-Christmas break and are now planning our next holiday.
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