Mendip Hills to the development of cave diving in Britain. The first cave dive was attempted at Swildon's Hole in 1934, and the first successful dive was achieved the following year at Wookey Hole Caves, which has the deepest sump in Britain at 76 m (250 ft). The cave complexes at St. Dunstan's Well Catchment, Lamb Leer, and Priddy Caves have been identified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The deepest cave in the Mendip Hills is Charterhouse Cave with a vertical range of . Many caves in the Mendip area were excavated for archaeological and natural history studies by pioneer explorer
Cheddar Gorge open-top bus tour operates during the summer. Cheddar cheese is made in the lower part of the gorge. UK 1960s Garage Rock band The Troggs used Cheddar Caves as the backdrop for the band photo on their debut album "From Nowhere – The Troggs", which included the US "Billboard" no.1 hit single (no.2 UK), "Wild Thing". Cheddar Gorge was the setting for Peter Nichols' 1968 comedy "The Gorge", in the BBC's Wednesday Play series. Cheddar Gorge is a panel game played on the BBC Radio 4 series "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue". The gorge was used as a location