Our verdict
The wood where Mendip goes underground — literally, at the fenced swallet mouths mid-walk. Join it to Velvet Bottom and Black Rock and you've the best half-day valley circuit on the hill, with the gorge's drama waiting at the bottom.
Ancient ash and hazel woodland at the head of the Cheddar valley, riddled with swallets where streams vanish underground into the Longwood cave system. Bluebells, ransoms and dormice above ground; fifty years of cave surveys below.
Somerset Wildlife Trust ancient woodland above Cheddar Gorge. Stay on paths — the wood sits over an active cave system and swallet holes are fenced for good reason.