Cheddar Complex Cheddar Complex The Cheddar Complex is a 441.3 hectare (1090.5 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Cheddar around the Cheddar Gorge and north east to Charterhouse in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1952. The very large area includes 4 SSSIs formerly known as: Cheddar Gorge SSSI; August Hole/Longwood Swallet SSSI; GB Cavern Charterhouse SSSI; and Charterhouse on-Mendip SSSI. It is part owned by the National Trust, commercial landowners including the Marquess of Bath's Longleat Estate; and part managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The Cheddar Complex supports a wide range of semi-natural habitats which includes unimproved grassland,
Cheddar Gorge gorge are owned by The National Trust. Every year both of the gorge's owners contribute funds towards the clearance of scrub bush and trees from the area. Most of the commercial visitor activity in the gorge is on the Longleat-owned south side, including access to the two main commercial show caves and the visitor centre, which is operated by Longleat-owned company "Cheddar Gorge and Caves Ltd" under director Hugh Cornwell. Due to the fact that tourist numbers have dropped through the show caves from 400,000 a year in the 1980s to 150,000, in 2013 Ceawlin Thynn, Viscount Weymouth who runs