Cheddar Caves and cheddar on toast

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.  

Cheddar Adventure - Burgers in Bristol and Hilltop Walk

Despite Rob's very convincing Brizzle accent, neither of us had visited Bristol before. As it was less than an hour away, we thought we would include a trip to Bristol in our holiday plans. We arrived mid-morning after a breakfast of coffee and pastries.

First on the agenda was to have a look around the Christmas Market. Although it was very festive, it just couldnt compare to the Bath Christmas Market. We did stop for a chocolate covered marshmellow though, which was very tasty. That also didn't stop us from popping into Ben's cookies when we came across the main shopping centre. Ben's Cookies are THE best, ever! 

We spent most of our time in Bristol shopping in the centre. The centre had everything that we could have asked for, including Harvey Nicks and my new favourite shop - Oliver Bonas. We got a fair few of our Christmas presents sorted.

They were plenty of restaurant chains in the shopping centre. Rob was desperate to try Five Guys. Although I hadn't had the best burger previously at Five Guys in Bluewater, I agreed. I must say that the Bristol Five Guys was loads better. I love the fact you can completely customise your burger with toppings. We also shared a bag of chips, which were very good. Rob was delighted by the drinks machine. He made a concoction of peach sprite, lemon sprite and lemon lucozade.  

The best thing about Bristol was definitely the food. Its a shame to say that the shopping area was a bit run down and there just wasn't much to do once we had been to the big shops. After a lot of eating we were ready to head home and walk off the food. 

The first set of pictures are from a hilltop walk we took Nell on the day before. We walked up the steepest hill we had ever walked in our lives, but we were finally greeted by beautiful views across Somerset.

For our walk after Bristol we headed back to Cheddar Nature reserve. We started our walk a little later than previous walks but we still got to see some beautiful sights. One of the best moments of the holiday was on this walk. Nell saw something in the distance so ran off after it. She soon realised it was another dog so started running back towards us. The other dog was a greyhound puppy that was 13 months old! All of a sudden they started playing together. Although, Nell had already walked for a good 40 minutes, she chased the other greyhound for ages. It was wonderful to see them sprinting up all the big hills. Nelli was exhausted afterwards but it was such a heartwarming moment.

Cheddar Adventure - Beautiful Bath

Without a doubt my favourite day of the holiday was our third day - our visit to Bath. Bath was about a 45 minute drive from Cheddar. We set off mid-morning, and after a little detour, we arrived in the city centre. 

First stop on the agenda was brunch! After a quick google of some good brunch spots we settled on Wild Cafe, which was in one of the little streets just behind the city centre. It came highly recommended.

Rob had the English breakfast. It wasn't the cheapest of breakfasts but everything was fantastic quality and cooked beautifully. The bacon was some of the best we have ever tried. I opted the fruit pancakes - three gorgeously fluffy pancakes topped with banana, strawberries, blueberries and maple syrup. It was lovely but I could have done with lots more fruit. We shared a pot of breakfast tea. 

After settling the bill we headed into the town centre. We were blown away by the stunning architecture. Bath reminded me a lot of Canterbury, but bigger and more beautiful. We managed to see a few of the sights including Bath Abbey, The Circus, and Royal Victoria Park. However, we were most excited to see the Roman Baths. 

The baths were incredible! They are definitely worth a visit. There is also a museum within the bath with loads of interesting things on display. We resisted the urge to jump into the baths!

After visiting the Roman Baths, we headed into the town centre where there was a Christmas Market. The market was huge - probably around 200 stalls of homemade and unique Christmas gifts. We picked up a few gifts for people. 

We soon worked up an appetite so we headed to the German sausage stall. We ordered big hot dogs with lots of mustard and ketchup. We washed it down with mulled wine and a mini mince pie. Drinking wine during the day - only whilst on holiday! 

We had a look around the rest of the shops in the town. There are some lovely luxury shops in Bath. 

We headed home mid-afternoon, back to our girlie. We took her for another walk, but we will share those pictures in another post as this is already pretty picture heavy. We will certainly be visiting Bath again soon, it was such a friendly, beautiful city and it got us well and truly in the Christmas mood. 

Cheddar Adventure - Gorge Walk and Cider Barn

We stayed pretty local on our first day in Cheddar. We wanted to explore the local area and what better way than with a nice long country walk with Nelli. We put together a packed lunch of left overs from our tea the night before, wrapped up walk, piled into the car and drove a couple of miles until we reach Cheddar nature reserve. We drove down windy road in the middle of the Gorge. As soon as we arrived, we were blown away by the beauty of the place. It was so pretty and it looked like something out of Lord of the Rings. 

The area was so quiet that we were finally allowed to let Nelli off the lead for her walk! We saw a couple of excited spaniels at the beginning and another couple, other than that we were completely alone. 

Nelli loved being off her lead. She could explore. She liked to stay ahead of us but kept looking back every few steps to make sure we weren't far away. She is such a sweet, loyal doggie. 

We came across a little waterfall with fresh, clear water. Nelli had a little explore of that too.

We left as the sun was going down. We walked for around an hour and half and she was exhausted. We drove back and dropped her home for her to have a sleep.

We then headed to a Wells - the smallest UK city. We had a little look around the shops. I bought a cute cape in the charity shop and Rob bought a flat cap that he was chuffed with. 

On the way back we stopped of a Earlydoors - a local cider bar in a converted barn.

I had a beer and after sampling a few local ciders Rob, Rob chose a local pint. It was very strong! The locals were very friendly and the barn was lovely and cosy with a big fire. 

For dinner we walked to a pub that had been recommended to us. The walk down country lanes was a bit scary but we made it! I had steak and Rob had venison sausages. The dinner was lovely. Again, fantastic friendly service. I was fully stuffed after my steak and hugely chocolately pudding. 

All in all a pretty busy first day.

Cheddar Adventure - our cottage

At the start of December Rob, Nelli and I packed our Wellies, blankets favourite toys into Rob's car and headed to Cheddar, Somerset for our first family holiday. 

Three hours later we arrived in Cheddar at our beautiful, picturesque cottage - The Hollies. 

Most of these pictures were taken on our first night. As you can see we settled our selves in very quickly. 

The cottage was so cosy and quaint. It consisted of a living room, a small kitchen, spiral stairs that lead up to the bedroom and a bathroom. The most beautiful feature was definitely the open fire. 

On our first evening we were quite tired from the drive. We decided to pop to the local budgens and pick up some snacky bits for tea. We opted for local cheese, brie, crusty bread, olives and feta, chorizo, salami, kettle chips, tazaki, local cheese puffs and our favourite Rioja. 

We watched day time televisions, put on films and it want long before I was dozing on the sofa. It was very relaxing, which set the tone for the rest of our holiday.