Wookey Hole Caves 95th Anniversary open to the public

Wookey Hole, home of the famous caves is thrilled to be celebrating 95 years of being open to the Public this Easter Weekend.

It is a particularly poignant anniversary for the staff and the Cottle family that own and operate the attraction as it is the first time that the site has been fully opened to the public since COVID restrictions have lifted.

Sarah Ramsey, Director of Wookey Hole said “The last two years have been really hard. We’re so happy we can finally bring the magic back to Wookey Hole and share all that it has to offer with our visitors. My family have been the Guardians of the place since 2003 and we have seen millions of families create cherished memories here. It has been so strange closing, then only being able to open a fraction of the site. Ghostly!”

Ramsey continued “Not only are the Caves now fully open but we’re also introducing a new film in our 4D cinema in exclusive partnership with award-winning animation studio Aardman, who made Shaun the Sheep, called the Bear and the Squirrel 4D. We have a special Easter trail in place and of course the legendary witch is here. This is a new beginning for us. We’re investing in our site to ensure everyone who visits, loves Wookey Hole as much as we do. There is lots to come so watch this space.”

Although the caves have been millions of years in the making, they have only been inhabited by Neanderthals and then humans on and off for about 45, 000 years.

Much of the cave’s history was brought to life by Herbert Ernest Balch who found many items now on display in Wells Museum such as children’s toys and broaches.

Balch’s work within the caves was then followed by the then owner Captain G.W. Hodgkinson opening the site as a show cave on Easter Saturday, April 16th, 1927. The Hodgkinson family owned the caves and paper mill from the 1800s.

Now the site is also home to a Paper Mill dating from 1610 and many family attractions including a Cave Diving Museum, vintage penny arcade and Dinosaur Grove. The site has been home to some incredible World Record Breaking Cave diving expeditions and are still actively used by cave divers to this day. They are the training grounds for the British Divers behind the Thai Cave rescue which is being bought to life in the film Thirteen lives starring Colin Farrell later this year.

The Caves are Hollywood stars in their own right, having been used in locations for multiple movies and TV shows including Doctor Who.