National Trust Cheddar Gorge Guidebook

Cheddar Gorge is Britain's biggest and unsurprisingly Somerset's premier attraction. It is within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with wonders large and small to gaze upon. The views go on for miles but if you cast your eyes down - when you dare! - you'll find plants that live here and nowhere else. Its scarce, rare and, in some cases, unique plant life has made it a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Its history from the prehistoric period means there is so much of interest. This fascinating limestone landscape of cliffs and caves was carved out around one million years ago. Karst landscapes such as that found at Cheddar gorge account for about a tenth of the world's land, where weird and wonderful formations have been created in the soft, acid-soluble limestone. It may sound inhospitable, but settlers came to Somerset from the earliest times.

Indeed, the oldest complete human skeleton in the country, Cheddar Man, was found here, thought to be around 9,000 years old. The area was once a hunting ground favoured by Saxon royalty. Today its long history and exceptional beauty continue to draw visitors, and this guide will show why.