As summer 2024 is rapidly drawing to a close I’m very conscious that I have a backlog of potential blog posts that grows every year. This blog is about a visit, back in summer 2021, to the fabulously named Wookey Hole Caves.
Wookey Hole is a very small village in Somerset, twenty-one miles south of Bristol and just two miles north of Wells. It’s barely a ten-minute drive from Wells where my husband and I were staying on holiday, you could walk there if you were so minded (and it wasn’t a wet day like when we visited).
The village no doubt gets its name from the Wookey Hole Caves Welcome – Wookey Hole Caves – a set of limestone caves which first opened as an attraction to the public in the 1920s. The caves are well known to British sci-fi geeks as a filming location used in the 1970s and 80s for programmes such as Doctor Who and Blakes 7 . In July 2021 my husband and I had a geeky holiday that took in several other Doctor Who locations; Aldbourne and Winspit Quarry, Wookey Hole just had to be done as well.
Wookey Hole Caves were used in the classic 1975 Doctor Who story ‘Revenge of the Cyberman’ which starred Tom Baker, Elizabeth Sladen and Ian Marter. It was the setting for Voga – a gold rich asteroid and home to a race of aliens called Vogans. With gold being a significant weakness of the Cybermen they are quite keen to destroy this ‘Planet of Gold’…
I’ve seen the story once and must have read the Target novel at some point. It’s not known for being one of the strongest classic Who stories, though the location filming gives it a bit of quality.
The story’s saving grace is the location shoot at Wookey Hole, which, although plainly devoid of gold, provides an unusually convincing setting for subterranean Voga. Only here does the drama occasionally gleam with life.
Doctor Who returned to the caves in 2009 when they were used as the location for the Ood Council Chamber in ‘End of Time’ Part One. I like that the tradition of using caves and quarries continues in the new series. https://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/wookeyholecaves
My husband Andy and I visited the caves on a very wet weekday morning, getting there shortly after opening. I can’t remember if we had a guided tour, it wasn’t that memorable if we did, but we did enjoy making our way though the caves taking photos. Many areas are atmospherically lit in different colours and there’s quite a few pools of water creating interesting reflections.
For caves that have been here for millennia there’s been a surprising number of changes since filming in the 1970s. As I researched this article I discovered that paths had been altered and even new corridors carved out in the intervening years. We didn’t try to match filming locations, we’re sure some of the steps we walked down were used and the ‘Witch’s Kitchen’ looked familiar. Instead we just enjoyed the atmosphere and tried to imagine what it would be like to see Cybermen and Vogans wandering around in the caves.
We saw the famous stone formation that it is claimed to look like a witch, photo below…what do you think? I remember seeing advertisements for a person to work in the caves as the ‘Wookey Hole Witch’, it’s quite well-paid role too, I’d happily be a witch for that salary. Wanted: One witch – salary £50,000 | London Evening Standard | Evening Standard
We discovered that the caves are the perfect place to mature cheese. There is a corridor lined with shelves stacked with wheels of cheese, the temperature and moisture levels being so consistent they get stored there for six months. Want to see the mouldy cheese? They have a live webcam! Live Cave Cams | Live Cheddar Cam | Wookey Hole Caves
There’s more to see than just the caves at Wookey Hole, the area has been made into a complex with various family attractions. In the grounds by the cave entrance is what’s called the ‘Enchanted Valley’ with a dozen or so large model dinosaurs and a ‘King Kong’. There’s a former paper mill which houses a museum, vintage arcade, shop and a few other things. There’s also adventure golf, a circus and regular shows and seasonal themed events. It’s all geared up to be a family friendly tourist attraction and isn’t cheap, but there’s plenty to do if you have small children. As big kids we thought the caves and the dinosaurs were the highlights and we easily spent a couple of hours there. We resisted buying any of the cave matured cheese in the shop as we were worried it might stink out the car.
IMDB has a list of what’s been filmed in the caves here. and it mentions a 1981 series called ‘The Rose Medalion’ which I’ve never heard of, but the cast list is interesting. Darth Vader himself, David Prowse is listed as the lead. Donald Sumpter, who’s an actor who’s been in both old and new Doctor Who, is also credited. It also features Shane Rimmer who was the voice of Scott Tracey in Thunderbirds. I’m going to have to keep a look out for that.
There was one final thing that we spotted that was of interesting at the caves. In a yard that was out of bounds there were lots of things that must have been part of former displays and attractions. Can you spot C3-P0?
From scene to seen 