April 2014

Tourism students go spelunking

Read time: approx 1 mins

From the stunning stalactite caverns to the soaring 450ft cliffs, UCB students have been exploring Cheddar Gorge in Somerset as a part of their course. 

The residential visit on 18 March was part of the BTEC National Diploma Tourism course, where the students were able to see how the world-famous site became a tourist attraction nearly 200 years ago, and why it is a British Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 

The students received an informative talk from the manager of the gorge, which included topics like how business changes and local community impact on Cheddar Gorge as a tourist destination. 

Students were then taken on a personal tour of the caves where the logistics of cave tours were discussed, such as managing a group of people inside this type of attraction and the best way to conduct a tour about a cave. The manager was quoted as saying “I always look forward to UCB students visiting the caves because they are so well-behaved and such a joy to share information with.” 

Many of the students then went on to taste some real Cheddar cheese, which is still stored and matured inside of the caves just as it was 100 years ago – making it the only authentic cave-matured Cheddar cheese in the world. 

Julie Hambleton, Year Manager Lecturer, said “Once again, the students were a credit to UCB. Everyone really enjoyed the visit and did the university proud.”

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