This week Gerry Brooke travels over the Mendips to Cheddar.

Cheddar is, of course, famous for its gorge, its caves and its cheese.

I could add strawberries, cider and lately beer, courtesy of Cheddar Ales, which has a shop in the village that  produces a variety of brews for pubs in the area.

Although that’s more than enough for most visitors, the village also has a long and fascinating history.

In a sheltered, south-facing position and with fresh springs gushing out of the rock face, this was obviously a favoured spot.

Listed in the Domesday Book as “ceder”, it’s been suggested that the name derives from the Saxon word “ceodre”, meaning a pouch, an apt description for the nature of the gorge, if you think about it.

As well as the prehistoric remains found in the limestone caves (don’t miss the impressive Cheddar Man on display in the museum), the remains of a Roman villa have also been unearthed near the church.

The Saxon kings, who came here to hunt, had a wooden palace nearby – you can see its outline, along with a 14th-century ruined church, laid out in the grounds of the Kings of  Wessex school.

In the 10th century, the Witenagemot – the Saxon parliament – would meet at the palace.

While nearby Axbridge, with its mayor and corporation, thrived throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Cheddar did not.

The anti-slavery campaigner and MP William Wilberforce was appalled by the wretched conditions of the villagers when he visited Cheddar  in 1789, along with Wrington philanthropist and reformer Hannah More.

The school she founded, a 17th-century building now called Hannah More’s Cottage, is a fine Grade II-listed building currently used by the local community as a meeting place.

Then, with the coming of the railway – the so-called Strawberry Line – in Victorian times, the villagers discovered tourists.

Gough’s and Cox’s caves were opened to the public, the charabancs and trains rolled in, and the place has never looked back.

Cheddar village itself, bigger  than you’d think, is well worth a  look around.

The fine Grade II-listed market cross in Bath Street –  recently restored after being damaged by traffic – dates back to the 15th century.

The shelter around it was rebuilt in 1834. St Andrew’s, Cheddar’s parish church, dates from the 14th century.

Restored in 1873 by William Butterfield, the Grade I-listed building contains some 15th-century stained glass and an altar table of 1631.

The tomb in the chancel is believed to belong to Sir Thomas Cheddar, who died in 1442, and in the churchyard you’ll find the grave of Bristol hymn writer William Chatterton Dix.

He’s perhaps best known for the hymn, "As with gladness, Men of old."