Finding somewhere to go on a wet winter's day can be difficult – but Mervyn Hancock finds Cheddar Caves dry, dark and exciting all year round

I f you had visited Cheddar Gorge and taken shelter in its famous caves in bygone days, you'd probably have been invited to stay for lunch – the problem is, you'd have also ended up on the menu, as Gough's Cave is Britain's first authenticated cannibal site.

One of the more macabre exhibits at this famous Somerset attraction is Cheddar Man, Britain's oldest complete skeleton.

If you're looking for somewhere to go on a wet, miserable winter's day, the whole family is bound to be fascinated by an exhibition which relates to life and death in the Stone Age and shows you the primitive technologies that enabled early man to survive ice ages, famine and terrifying predators, including massive dinosaurs.

Lord Bath, who is probably the world's greatest fan of Cheddar cheese, owns what is the birthplace of the famous delicacy, where a curious village milkmaid caused a pail of milk to turn into a ploughman's lunch after allegedly leaving it inside the caves and wandering off, then returning to find that it had turned into cheese. I suspect there was a more scientific method being used, but it still tastes delicious and can be bought in the village.

Cheddar Gorge was almost unknown outside the immediate area until 200 years ago, when scientists began taking interest in caves and the treasures within them – wondrous things like stalactites, stalagmites and evidence of huge animals and prehistoric man.

Even locals had avoided the gorge, which was reputed to be haunted and practically impassable.

These days, it's regularly voted one of the UK's foremost tourist attractions.

It wasn't until 1800 that the first carriage road was constructed, opening up the area to early tourists who previously would have had to climb down a rocky path, either on foot or on horseback.

The owner of a local watermill, George Cox, decided to widen the road to improve access to his business some 37 years later, and during the work he accidentally broke through rock and into a cave, which was eventually named after him.

His nephew, retired sea captain Richard Gough, helped by his six sons, found a vast cave a quarter of a mile long, and after almost seven years of hard work they uncovered spectacular chambers which could be illuminated by another great invention, electricity.

Rival mill owner Roland Pavey decided he would like a cave, too, and when he couldn't find one he walled-in an old quarry on his land and created one. He then started on a huge construction of a flight of 274 steps leading from the bottom of the gorge to a spectacular viewing platform – his Jacob's Ladder is still a major tourist attraction in the village today.

The Thynn family ruled the area as lords of the manor from their stately pile over at Longleat House. Lord Bath formed the Cheddar Caves and Gorge Company to run all the new attractions in the village and encouraged more discoveries there.

In 1913, potholers found a second way into Cox's Cave, and more than 70 years later discovered that Cox's Cave and Pavey's man-made cave could be joined by a tunnel.

Cheddar Gorge is full of exciting walks and places to eat, you can sample the famous cheese and, of course, you can enjoy the caves whatever the weather.

Gough's Cave is the largest show cave and has a quarter of a mile of cathedral-like caverns carved out over a million years by Ice Age meltwaters leading to the magnificent Diamond Chamber and Solomon's Temple.

There is also a million-year-old river bed (with an active river still flowing beneath it) which was home to our Stone Age ancestors and re-discovered by Richard Gough in 1890.

Cox's Cave is small and beautifully coloured, with narrow passages winding between fantastic calcite formations and mirror pools sculpted by nature over a million years. The Crystal Quest is a dark-walk fantasy adventure with wizards, goblins, fairy princesses and a smoke-breathing dragon set in the cave created 100 years ago by Pavey.

Admission: adults, £15; children (aged five 5 to 15), £9.50; under fives, free; family ticket (two adults and up to three children), £39.50. Explorer ticket, including Jacob's Ladder: adults, £10.90; children aged five-15, £7.90; under fives, free; family ticket, £29.70.

The caves are open daily from 10:30am to 5pm (last entry 4.30pm).