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Cheddar Gorge

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Our view

"A circuit around Somerset’s most impressive natural feature and beside the home of its gorgeous cheese."

Walk directions

From the car park turn right, across a roundabout and over the river. At the entrance to the gorge, bear right up a steep lane, The Lippiatt, for 80yds (73m). Steps on the left lead up to another lane. Go up this to a signed bridleway on the left into woods. At the top is a metal viewpoint tower.

Through a tall, wooden kissing gate, a wide path runs uphill, close to the edge of the gorge. The well-trodden limestone becomes very slippery when it’s damp. A small path runs further to the left, with various viewpoints overlooking the gorge.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Stony and sometimes steep and slippery, several stiles

Landscape - Crag tops and woods

Dog friendliness - Open land, but care needed near cliff edges

Parking - Pay-and-display at Cliff Street, Cheddar village, just outside Cheddar Gorge

Toilets en route - Toilets at car park, and at show caves

Walks in Somerset Dog-friendly walks in Somerset

About the walk

Standing within it, Cheddar Gorge looks more like a fairground than a public highway: indeed it has been a fairground since early Victorian times. The limestone crags are seen at their best from the small path on the southern rim. (Careful – King Edmund of England narrowly escaped falling over the... edge when hunting up here in the year AD 941, and he wasn’t the last.) The gorge as we see it today has been slightly enhanced by quarrying in the last couple of centuries. At the same time, it is very ancient; the huge river that carved it existed 200 million years ago, when the Mendips were a newly-risen range rising to roughly Ben Nevis height. With Somerset then in the desert zone just north of the equator (think 'Sahara'), fierce flash floods carved out what might then have been called Cheddar Wadi. Since then the Gorge has been buried under younger rocks (softer Jurassic limestones), and eroded back out again by rainfall and streams. Holes with cheese in Cheddar is, of course, doubly famous, not only for its gorge but also for its cheese. Cheddar cheese does not have holes in (that’s Emmental, from Switzerland) but Cheddar’s holes did originally have cheese in: they were stored underground where the temperature is a chill-cabinet 4°C (39°F) all the year round. The particular process of ‘cheddaring’ consists of slicing up the curd at a crucial moment, placing it in layers and letting it slump – much the same as what’s happened to the limestone strata overhead. The process is fairly easy to reproduce on an industrial scale, so that we now have Orkney Cheddar, New Zealand Cheddar, and Cheddar from everywhere in between. However, authentic, hand-made Cheddar is available at Cheddar Gorge and is considerably tastier than the orange lumps vacuum wrapped in plastic found on supermarket shelves. Goat control Early this century, semi-wild goats were introduced within a fenced enclosure to graze the ledges on the south side of the gorge, and keep down scrub trees. But as any medieval peasant could have told them, goats don't say where they're put. By 2006 they were ranging happily on both sides of the gorge and into neighbouring farmland. The double-height deer fence, passed through on the outward walk along the edge of the Cheddar Cliffs, now keeps in the goats. At least until they learn to cope with kissing gates.

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About the area

Somerset remains rural and unspoiled, and ever popular areas to visit are the limestone and red sandstone Mendip Hills rising to over 1,000 feet, and by complete contrast, to the south and southwest, the flat landscape of the Somerset Levels. Another popular spot, the Quantocks, once the haunt of poets Coleridge and Wordsworth, are noted for their gentle slopes, heather-covered moorland expanses and red deer.

Route details

Difficulty:

Hard

Gradient:

Challenging

Distance:

3.5 miles (5.7kms)

Ascent:

1000ft (305m)

If you like this walk, you can try more routes in the area.

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Cheddar Gorge

Recommended by

Our view

"A circuit around Somerset’s most impressive natural feature and beside the home of its gorgeous cheese."

Walk details

Difficulty:

Hard

Gradient:

Challenging

Distance:

3.5 miles (5.7kms)

Ascent:

1000ft (305m)

Walk directions

1 of 6

2 of 6

At the highest point of the path ignore gates on the right but continue between fence and gorge. The path descends quite steeply through a wood to another tall kissing gate. After a short level stretch and another gate it continues downhill – this can be muddy and slippery – to the gorge road.

3 of 6

The Gorge Walk turns left down the roadside for 200yds (180m) to a waymarked path that climbs through the woods on the right. After a steep ascent it turns left up a long flight of steps. It continues with a fence on its right and the gorge on its left, gently downhill.

4 of 6

After 0.25 miles (400m) downhill a stile on the left is marked 'caution steep drop' and leads down to an informal viewpoint. This path descends steeply to an exposed slope above crags: dogs and children should be closely controlled, and the place should be avoided when very wet or by those with flat-soled shoes. It does give a fine outlook on the gorge mouth and the rock faces opposite.

From the cliff viewpoint return over the 'caution steep drop' stile and turn downhill on the main path for 250yds (229m). The path bends right, away from the gorge, to a gate in a wall. Go past (not through) the gate to a stile at the wall corner. The path goes down under trees with a broken wall on its right, then through it at a gate, to pass a small vineyard.

5 of 6

At the first houses of Cheddar turn sharp left into a walled path. At the tarred driveway of Cufic House turn left to arrive among the shops and attractions of Cheddar Gorge. Turn right, into a path forbidden to cyclists, which passes behind a mill pool. Rejoin the main road through the gorge, and head down past (or via) the tea rooms and snack shops to the car park.

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Location

Starting point

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Stony and sometimes steep and slippery, several stiles

Landscape - Crag tops and woods

Dog friendliness - Open land, but care needed near cliff edges

Parking - Pay-and-display at Cliff Street, Cheddar village, just outside Cheddar Gorge

Toilets en route - Toilets at car park, and at show caves

Walks in Somerset Dog-friendly walks in Somerset

About the walk

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

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Learn more

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Somerset

Cheddar Gorge

Been on this walk?

Walking in Safety

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Cheddar Gorge

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