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Cheddar Gorge

B3135 · Cheddar → Green Ore · England

Length
10 miles
Drive time
20 min
Type
Technical road
Region
England

Before you go: Bottom section crawls with visitors on summer weekends

England's biggest gorge from the inside: the B3135 threads beneath 130 m limestone cliffs in a chain of tightening bends, then opens onto the Mendip plateau towards Green Ore.

The B3135 climbs out of Cheddar under 130 m limestone cliffs in a chain of tightening bends, then opens onto the Mendip plateau toward Green Ore. The lower gorge is the famous bit and the slow bit: visitor traffic, people crossing to caves, and nowhere useful to pause. Once you are on the plateau it is an ordinary Mendip road. Surface is good. The cliffs are the point.

Summer weekends crawl from the village end. Go at eight, or in April. Lion Rock Tea Rooms are in the gorge village; Black Rock has a proper place to get off the road for the cliff photograph. Fuel in Cheddar before you start. Do not try to park on the lower bends.

Pair it with Burrington Combe over the Mendip tops, then drop to the Jurassic Coast if you have the days — that trip is already in the app.

England's biggest gorge from the inside is a short drive. The mistake is arriving at eleven in August and calling the traffic the road. Once on the Mendips the B3135 is fast enough to surprise you after the cliffs — livestock, junctions, ordinary speed limits. Black Rock is the walkers' gate into the gorge from above if you want the cliffs without the village circus. Pairing with Burrington is the right second gorge: quieter, still limestone. Green Ore is a crossroads, not a destination; turn when you have had the plateau. The lower bends are the photograph everyone already has; take it from a signed bay, then leave. Fuel in Cheddar. If the village is already a queue at the caves, you are too late for the driving.

Highlights of the Cheddar Gorge

Where to stop on the Cheddar Gorge

Drive the Cheddar Gorge

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