Places To Eat Near Cheddar Gorge
Offering delicious, locally-sourced meals and award-winning Butcombe beers and ales on tap, our range of restaurants near Cheddar Gorge are the ideal places for a bite to eat after a busy day exploring this picturesque part of Somerset.
The Rising Sun
We’re passionate about great food and drink at The Rising Sun – expect delicious seasonal dishes and hearty pub classics, with a focus on fresh ingredients and produce carefully sourced from our local suppliers. Behind the bar you’ll find a selection of award-winning beer from our own Butcombe Brewery, and you’ll notice that our menus and daily specials also feature our own ales where possible – like our Butcombe Gold beer-battered fish and chips. The Rising Sun offers a huge beer garden with children’s play area, and large carpark – the perfect place to stop after a day out at Cheddar Gorge.
The Swan Inn
A haven for walkers, cyclists and locals alike, The Swan Inn is all about delicious, locally-sourced food – pub classics, flatbread pizza, and tasty bar snacks – with a cosy, welcoming vibe and an impressive selection of award-winning Butcombe beer on the taps. Stop by after exploring Cheddar Gorge, while walking your dog, or after visiting other popular Somerset attractions like Glastonbury Tor, Wookey Hole Caves or England’s smallest city – Wells.
The Bower Inn
With beer-battered fish and chips, our delicious ‘Bower burger’ and our famous Sunday roast, you’ll find something you love at The Bower Inn. Enjoy your locally-sourced meal in the refurbished, historical 18th-century cottage and beautiful gardens, and pair your dish with an award-winning pint of craft beer from behind the bar – the perfect end to the day after exploring Cheddar Gorge.
The Lamb Inn
Not far from the wonderful scenery of Cheddar Gorge, you’ll find The Lamb Inn – a charming, cosy, 15th century converted coaching inn, complete with traditional beams, open fireplaces, a beautiful beer garden for alfresco dining. For a characterful and historic place to enjoy a delicious, home-made, locally-sourced classic pub meal, paired with an award-winning pint of Butcombe beer, you can’t do much better than The Lamb Inn.
The Langford Inn
For a true taste of the West Country, you can’t do any better than The Langford Inn pub-restaurant. On the menu, you’ll find a mix of seasonal dishes with hearty pub classics, all made with local Somerset produce in a field-to-fork approach to sustainable dining. Bring your pup along after your day out at Cheddar Gorge – The Langford Inn is dog-friendly, so your pooch will feel right at home!
The Pelican
In the heart of Chew Magna, not far from the picturesque Cheddar Gorge, you’ll find The Pelican gastropub, with an intimate bar, cosy dining area, crackling log fire, and pleasant terraced beer garden for alfresco dining and drinking. Choose from the delicious seasonal menu of classic pub dishes, a range of local Butcombe beers, spirits and cocktails behind the bar, and sample a tasty, wood-fired pizza straight from the oven.
Ring O’ Bells
The Ring o’ Bells is a local legend in Compton Martin and throughout Somerset, boasting secret live music gigs from renowned pop artists like Kylie Minogue, Paul Weller and Coldplay, while retaining its traditional country gastropub vibe. It boasts a beautiful beer garden, kids’ play area, live sport, locally-sourced pub grub and cracking selection of award-winning Butcombe beers and real ales behind the bar. Book a table while you’re exploring Cheddar Gorge and stop by after to enjoy modern twists on hearty pub classics, unlike anything you’ve had before.
Cheddar Gorge & Caves
The famous gorge and caves were formed over a million years ago during the last Ice Age, when water from melting glaciers formed a river which carved into the limestone rock beneath to create the dramatic cliffs and caverns we see today.
Visitors can purchase a ticket to gain access to Gough’s Cave, the largest and most impressive show cave in Cheddar. It boasts cathedral-like caverns decorated with stalagmites and stalactites and the oldest complete skeleton ever found in Britain – the Cheddar Man.
The ticket price also includes entrance to the Museum of Prehistory (located opposite the caves), the Jacob’s Ladder climb, the interactive Dreamhunters exhibition in Cox’s Cave and the cinematic Beyond The View experience.
Jacob’s Ladder & The Lookout Tower
Included as part of a Cheddar Gorge & Caves ticket, climbing Jacob’s Ladder is an absolute must for visitors of Cheddar Gorge. It’s not for the faint-hearted (a steep 274 steps to the top!), but those who make it will be rewarded with incredible views of the surrounding Mendip Hills and the gorge below.
For those that really want to push themselves, 48 more steps will get you to the top of the Lookout Tower for panoramic views of the Somerset Levels to the south, and of the windswept plateau that runs for over 22 miles east-to-west if you look to the north.
Cheddar Gorge Cliff Top Walk
From the top of Jacob’s Ladder, you can embark on the iconic Cheddar Gorge Cliff Top Walk – a spectacular 3 mile circular stomp across the top of the two gorge ridges. Elevated over 900ft above sea level, the walk offers stunning views over the rolling Mendip Hills, Somerset Levels and the village of Cheddar itself. Walkers are also likely to bump into the free-roaming flocks of primitive goats and rare Soay sheep along their way!
For those looking to avoid the steep Jacob’s Ladder climb, the walk can also be accessed from within Cheddar Village, opposite the National Trust centre. Find detailed instructions here.
The Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company
Now famous across the world, Cheddar cheese originates from the tiny village of Cheddar, with records of cheesemaking in the village dating back to the 12th century. The caves of Cheddar Gorge were historically used to mature the cheese with their humidity and steady temperature providing the optimum conditions, a method still used today by The Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company – Cheddar’s only remaining cheesemakers. Stop by their shop in the village to watch the traditional cheesemaking process from start to finish whilst enjoying some free tasters of their cave-aged Cheddar!
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