I’m staying in Cheddar next week with the family and will be able escape for a few hours on the bike one or two mornings, is there any routes easy to follow in the area or anyone riding & wanting company?
Also looking for activities to keep a 7 & 11 yr old entertained. Will all have mtbs with us too but also looking for other things, only wookey hole on the list so far.

Family riding is the Strawberry line, a disused and re-purposed railway line. The tunnel at Winscombe/Kings Wood is closed for work at the moment, but there is a diversion.

All the good riding immediately around cheddar is either cheeky, rocky, or both, with the exception of the Gorge walk, which is classified as a Bridleway. It’s a stern climb up, and a good, if short descent that’s best taken at speed early or late to avoid the hordes. Mind the cliff edge.

The Mendip plateau is close, but from Cheddar, all roads (and indeed, trails) head up. legit Off-road is either Warrens Hill Road (a BW), or ‘Yoghurt’, a bridle way around the back of Cheddar Woods Lodge park. By road it’s a stiff climb to Shipham, or you use the Strawberry line to put some miles into Sandford/Winscombe, where you can go up past Sandford Quarry and into a BW, crossing the A38 bycthe disused Churchill quarry at Dolbury Bottom and climb your way up from there.

There’s plenty to do in Cheddar for the kids (caves and assorted activities) but if you’re off to Wookey Hole think about Ebor Gorge (off the Deer Leap road) if you like walks. Wells and Glastonbury are easily accessible too for excursions.

I ride the Gorge once or twice a week which I enjoy but it might be a bit much for the children. There is a flat cycle route (I think that it’s part of the Strawberry Line) from Cheddar to the Cheddar Reservoir (in Axbridge) which might be worth a go with the family.

‘Yoghurt’, a bridle way around the back of Cheddar Woods Lodge park

The track from Axbridge bypass up the right hand edge of the woods to the quarry? Is that marked as a bridleway on the ground now? It’s still just a footpath on Bing OS maps. Just asking because I used to live just over the road from there and I know the local horse riders have always campaigned for turning footpaths into bridleways.

No. The other side. That one is still a footpath.

Thanks for the advice and we’ll be checking out Ebbor gorge.