For wild and rugged natural beauty, some prehistory and a few scary tales, transport your troops to Cheddar Caves and Gorge in Somerset. The Caves were inhabited by our ancestors some 40,000 years ago and are world-famous for their stalactites and stalagmites. JR ‘Lord of the Rings’ Tolkien was inspired by these underground marvels – take the Crystal Quest dark-walk fantasy adventure if you dare (don’t dragons live in caves?).



The ‘Cheddar Gorge and the Cannibals’ exhibition explores the truth about our prehistoric forebears. There’s a reserve housing Peregrine falcons, and a climb of 274 steps to reach the lookout tower and three-mile nature reserve walk round Britain’s biggest gorge.