The weather started out wet, and for the majority of the
journey to Cheddar was actually very bright and sunny. By the time we reached Cheddar though, it had
clouded over and it had definitely rained there. It was chilly and a little showery but the
rain was light. We started at Gough's
Cave where we wandered through with our audio guides which were quite fun! I made sure to take extra care whilst walking
around, and my photos started off quite badly but they improved as we went on –
it's been a while since I have had to take photos in the dark! The mirror-pools turned out quite well
though.
Next, we went to visit the museum opposite the cave, which
was a LOT different than when I last visited Cheddar Gorge which must have been
something like ….. well I think I may have been around 12..? A long time ago though. It was quite good, much more modern and
updated, although I found the giant rotating “skinned skull” slightly
disturbing, and the fake grave at the end surrounded by bright colourful
plastic flowers was kind of ruined by the accompanying song “Mercedes Benz”....
Anyway, we continued on to Cox's cave which was quite
different to Gough's cave. My photos
were turning out better here, although it was a little brighter. We could have done without the choral music
though. Instead of ending at Cox's cave,
we decided (or rather, Mathew decided) to go through with the “Crystal Quest”
which has strange parallels to Lord of the Rings with regards to elves, a wise
wizard, wraiths, travelling to “Mordon” and several creatures which looked very
similar to Gollum. At the end, we met
the Dragon, and we were glad to see that head of the woman at the beginning of
the Quest had discovered and re-attached itself to her body. Personally, we rather liked the doorman at
the end – he was standing so still, we thought he was a statue of a person
wearing a hooded habit, but he was real!!
Afterward, we went to “Derrick's Tea Rooms”, and each had a
cream tea. We had eaten something at
11am which had filled us until around 3pm and we still weren't really in the
mood for lunch, as such. We both also
had a pot of tea each – loose leaf – which was rather nice. They had loose leaf Rooibos, which I then discovered
they had in their shop, so when I paid, I bought a packet of it. I have never seen loose leaf Rooibos anywhere
else.
Back in the car we set out to our cottage in West Milton,
which turned out to be really very easy to find, and the directions were also
very easy to follow. It was called “The
Loft”, and was a small cottage, where the front door was more like a side door,
straight into the living room. The
kitchen was fine, but there was – oddly – nowhere to store any food other than
the fridge and freezer. The cupboards
were absolutely stuffed full with mugs, cups and bowls! Although, we had been left a tin of Quality
Street chocolates, 4 scones and a chocolate fudge cake on the top, along with
butter, strawberries and clotted cream in the fridge.
After exploring the place a little more and discovering an
abundance of torches (!), we unpacked and settled down before going out to have
dinner. Mathew had decided on The
Marquis which was just down the road, and it just so happened that we had a
sample menu in our welcome pack in the cottage.
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