Off top Chew Magna area tomorrow camping for a few days, apart from the rip off touristy stuff what other delights are there ?

Other caves to visit ?

Is it worth the £50 for wookey hole etc £50 for cheddar gorge tourist bit ?

two boys 7 and 8 years old and happy wife

Many thanks in advance

Walk to the top of the gorge with the kids .Visit Burrington Combe .Wells Cathedral and Bishops Palace are nice.Westhay and Shapwick are not far away for bird watching on the levels .On the coast and away from the candy floss .Brean Down near Burnham on sea is very pretty as is Sand Point North of Weston Super Mare

Stanton Drew stone circles are just up the road as well

hmm this is tough!

brean down also has the fort at the end, so not just a nice place.

kids might enjoy wookey, the caves in the gorge itself are pretty tacky. there are some good walks up above the gorge and over towards charterhouse.

there are ‘proper’ caves which you would need full kit for in the burrington area – right near the MTB trails around beacon batch / rowberrow.

glastonbury tor is pretty close, as is the other stuff there. (chalice well/abbey)

free entry to the museum of somerset down in taunton

avoid bridgwater and weston if you can help it at all costs?

Obvious answer is MTB on the mendips if you have a bike with you!

Definitely pop to the Salt and Malt by Chew lake for some fish and chips or their fish finger burger. Same guy who runs the Pony and Trap restaurant.

Another place to pop for good food (tea and cake in the afternoon) is the Ethicurian at the Walled Garden just off the Airport Road. Wanted to have a business meeting (old friend, having a work/social catch up) last week but they were filming there.

never been to wookey hole. The name just makes me think of Chewbaccas girlfriend and a lack of Veet.

Don’t really do touristy stuff. Just like walking/riding in the area. The gorge is best done in the early evening IMO.

Bath is not far away.

Weston beach is okay, I go there at least once a week. Good cafes by the marina (Stones and the other one) and Uphill is nice for a walk. There used to be a wake boarding line at the marina but I think it’s gone now. Looking forward to the new water park that has just got planning. There is also the Tropicana which has got fairground rides/attractions but not sure what else. Never been on the pier, no intention to.

Walk across bean down might be worth a trip.

You can take your kids to cuddle my lambs if you want, they are just up the road from Chew 😀

If you want some activities then try this place: http://www.mendipsnowsport.co.uk/

there is regularly caving at Burrington but no idea which local groups organise it.

+1 mendip outdoor.
Frisbee golf, tobogganing or even a ski plus loads of other stuff.
Nice walk from the Crown at Churchill up dolbury Warren, great beer pub to come back to.
Also the walk along Brean down is great, the kids will like exploring the fort if they are anything like ours or my sisters lot.
AVOID the area of Brean itself though, especially Bank holiday W/e. Horrid place, drive through with the windows up.!

Wookey hole is worth a look especially if it’s raining. Also consider:

– hiking up to rowberrow warren which is an Iron Age fort or something like that
– the food at the Queens Arms in chew manga is top notch … Salt and Malt is quite hit and miss
– the industrial museum and harbour ferry in Bristol

What the others have said +

If you like fishing go to either Chew or Blagdon lakes.

Weston has improved quite a lot over the years and is actually now quite pleasant in a tourist kind of way.

Helicopter museam

Looks like there is some stock car / banger racing going on at the Mendip Raceway (top of Cheddar Gorge) http://mendipsraceway.com/race-dates/2016-race-dates.html

Noahs Ark is a good zoo with some massive animals
http://www.noahsarkzoofarm.co.uk

Skiing at: http://mendipsnowsport.co.uk

Actually the ski centre looks like they can sort you out for a ton of activities.

Then you also have walking at:
Ebor Gorge
Crooks Peak
Priddy Ponds

Really all depends on what kind of thing you want to do.

The caves are expensive but they are pretty impressive. Wooky is probably the best value as after the caves there are lots of other attractions.

Ah yes, meant Rowberrow Warren, from the Crown Inn.. May go with kids this week as I’m off work.

Noah’s ark, underlying creationist theme, iirc.
Not that that should stop you.

If popping into Bristol then the SS Great Britain and a walk along the harbourside is good. Not been in the museum as always had the dog with me.

Sent my nephew up to the old hill fort the other day, he felt cheated as he was expecting a real fort, not just a pile of rocks 😀

I guess I will end up picking up litter up there next week if it’s a sunny bank holiday (grumble grumble).

And yeah, Brean itself is horrid.

A walk over Wavering Down and Crooks Peak would be good. Park up at Kings Wood (£1 donation) or in the parking layby on the main road round the south (gets busy).

Another nice area to explore is Velvet Bottom which links up to the top of the gorge. It’s near Charterhouse.

I sometimes drive over to Burnham, have fish and chips in the cafe on the promenade next to the BARB building where they have the hovercraft, which is always worth a look at if open, and a small donation made, then I walk along the beach to the old Victorian lighthouse, back to the car and drive along through Berrow and Brean to park on the beach next to Brean Down, paying attention to tide times and parking right at the top of the beach, and walking along to the old fort and back.
This will easily consume an entire afternoon, if you get into Burnham at around lunchtime.
If you’re feeling really adventurous, try walking from Burnham to Brean Down and back; about eleven miles on sand, not including the three miles of the Down, and it’ll probably kill your knees!
It did mine…

The old Victorian lighthouse at Burnham.

Timbers of the Nornen, a Norwegian ship wrecked on Berrow beach in 1897.

Looking towards Cardiff from Brean Down, with Steepholm and Flatholm in between.

Searchlight emplacement at the end of Brean Down with Steepholm.

Nice pics CountZero. I live in BoS. A mile due west to the beach from my doorstep. I’ve done home to the fort and back down the beach again once, second time I came back on the road – as the forks oin my old bike were never quite the same after the first time I did it.

Them there’s the Quantocks you can see behind the shipwreck.

Them there’s the Quantocks you can see behind the shipwreck

I know, along with Hinkley Point and this place:

And here:

Kilve and Lilstock.
I didn’t ride from BoS to Brean and back, I walked it, on the beach…
Hence my almost weeping like a girl by the time I got to the Victorian lighthouse, ‘cos I was in so much pain in my knees!

Looking back towards BoS, you can just make out the tiny white dot of the old lighthouse to the left of the point behind which is Hinkley, there’s a dark coloured off-shore structure the other side of it.
This is from Lilstock.

Someone mentioned Glastonbury Tor, which is certainly worth a visit, but so is Burrow Mump, at Burrowbridge, about a half-hour drive away. Very similar, a ruined church on top of a mound rising out of the Levels, but hardly anyone goes there, and it’s lovely for a picnic in the sun, before the grockle-fest that is the Tor.
It’s a bloody sight easier climb to the top, too!

That place looks lovely. OH refused to walk up to the Tor, she claims it’s because there is always too many people and she doesnt see the point in going up a hill to come back down the way you came (I pointed out you can go down the other side) but she really just hates walking up hills!

hah.. my OH is the same about hills.. i remember dragging her up to a greek acropolis once..

CountZero – I knew you’d know it was the Q’s 🙂 Just for the benefit of those reading less familiar with this area.

I grew up (and currently sat behind my desk) in Taunton. Lived in BoS for almost 5 years now. The Mrs family had a caravan in doniford for a while, around when we first got together and we explored the north somerset + devon coast a lot.

Lilstock is a funny little place. Kilve better, especially the tea-room, when open 🙂

valley of the rocks might be a bit far? (lynton/lynmouth)

Thanks for all the recommendations

Specially for the tip of Salt & Malt – just had our dinner…fantastic

Thanks one and all

woody74 – Member

Looks like there is some stock car / banger racing going on at the Mendip Raceway (top of Cheddar Gorge) http://mendipsraceway.com/race-dates/2016-race-dates.html

This is a good day out, the kids will enjoy it.

We usually go up over the Bank Holiday. Do not go however if it is cold, wet or windy (you will see why when you get there!!)

Thanks one and all

You’re very welcome!
Canopy, you’re right about Lilstock, I’d been to Kilve before, but I’d seen a walk described going inland from Lilstock, so I thought I’d try extending it by starting at Kilve, walking along to Lilstock, then doing the inland bit but extending to finish back at Kilve. Cut it short in the end, my knees were playing up, so I took a road back down to Lilstock and back along the coast path.
Still around five or six miles, and I’m glad I went along to Lilstock, it’s an interesting little place with its past history, but that beach is a bugger to try to walk along!