The Doctor at Alton towers, outside the main tower bulding

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Quick photo took of the clouds at 8:30pm, with a few effects added

Quick shot taken this morning of chasewater in the snow

While we was on holiday and after visiting wookey hole, we went to Cheddar gorge on the way back to our accommodation, Now I myself had visited Cheddar gorge years ago this was when my daughter was only about 4, which on that visit we had a full ticket to see all the 7 attractions the current price is £18.50 Adult, £12.00 Children, Under 5′s Free and a Family Ticket is £50.00 you can save 10% if you book online.

This time we didn’t get the tickets as was late in the day and we just wanted to see the gorge and the town, we had a nice drive through the gorge, which is Britain’s biggest gorge with the cliff rising over 450ft. along the road there are several pay and display car parks so you can admire the view, the day we was there it was really clear sky’s so great views of the gorge cliffs.

If you get the caves & gorge explorer ticket you get access to the following:

Entrance to the three following caves, Goughs cave, Cox’s cave and the crystal quest from what I remember of my visit years ago these are really beautiful caves, you can see loads of stalactites in goughs cave which is where the cheddar man was discovered which is Britain’s oldest skeleton. In the Crystal quest kids can follow the quest and meet the lord of darkness and his dragon, now when I went my daughter was really young but did get scared in this part and I had to take her out, so may not be suitable for younger children that get scared easily.

The Lookout tower and cliff-top gorge walk, now this is for the energetic, as to the top there is 274 steps up the side of the gorge and then another 48 more to the top of the lookout tower, but it is well worth it as there was great views around the gorge.

The Gorge bus tour this is a great way to see the gorge as starts from the bottom in the town and in this open top bus you have a guide that tells you about how the gorge was formed millions of years ago, this takes about 20mins. Then there is the museum of pre-history, which show you the story of our ice age ancestors lived. There is also the cheddar gorge x-treme real caving and rock climbing, this is at a additional cost.

We had a nice walk through the town as this was just the two of us, with no kids so we could just enjoy the shops and scenery, there are some great gift shops selling loads of unusual stuff. They are all worth a visit, we could have spent a lot longer around but we had got there later in the day and most places were closing. But from my previous visit and this time cheddar gorge is well worth a visit if you are in the Somerset area as the gorge is a renowned beauty spot and is a national nature reserve.

Shot taken few years ago of electric glow fire, just added the lense and flame effect

About mid October we found a hedgehog out in the day, we thought we had done the right thing, but we then found out we should have done things a bit different here is the story so others can take advice from it.

I was looking out of my living room window and a coldish Saturday mid afternoon, and noticed a car pulling up in the road and someone getting out, there was a hedgehog in the middle of the road, I shouted down that we would bring a towel to help move it out of the road, so we went down and my partner had got it wrapped up in a towel to move it to safety. Now I live in a apartment block on the first floor, so in front of the block there is a large grassed area, so we moved the hedgehog to here, but the hedgehog then started moving to the towards the road again, to we gathered it up again and because we have a lot of large trees around the gardens there was a lot of leaves so we gathered them up into a large pile and put him closer to the block, we let him settle, and went back into the house.

I know that Hedgehogs are nocturnal and don’t normally come out in the day but he looked fine and was moving all ok, so a quick check on the net said about that if a hedgehog is out in the day they could be injured or have parasites in there spikes, we had already looked at him and didn’t seem injured, some of the sites said put them in a high sided box and feed and try to keep warm now because I’m in a apartment block this was impractical. we then looked out of the windows and again he had moved in the same direction towards the road, So we decided to move him to somewhere safe now where i live is just by chasewater park, and this is the way he was heading so we decided to move him to there.

We got a largish plastic box and put leaves in the box and a towel over the top, and was very careful carrying him, we only had to go over the main road and this is the one entrance going to chasewater park which there is a large wooded area, we went away from the main track and got him out of the box.  This area is a bit secluded and where dog walkers don’t really go as is a dead end for the path, there is a lot of coverage by trees and foliage, so though he would be safe here and this is the direction he was trying to go, and only about 500 yards away from where I live.

we let him out of the box and he was curled up into a ball, after a few minutes he got up and started to move again he was walking ok and moving pretty quick and didn’t really mind us being by him, see the video below, we watched him for about 10minutes and he seemed fine so we left him as he seemed fine.

After we got in I did another search on the internet and then found out we should have taken him to a animal rescue sanctuary, I then found one local and after a few tries of getting through spoke to a lady explained where we was and what we had done with the hedgehog and she said we really should have contacted her first and brought him over she asked about the size and if any injuries which we had noticed any injuries as was moving ok, so I said would go back and have a look to find him. So I went over first and my partner her son and my daughter followed we spend nearly 30 minutes looking for him but couldn’t find him anywhere, though when we went out to look for him this was about 20 minutes after we had left him.

As you can see from the video and photos on this page he does look healthy and was moving ok, so really the advice I will give is to get in touch with your local animal or hedgehog sanctuary. Here is the advice if a hedgehog is out in daylight from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society:

• Pick up the hedgehog using gloves or an old towel
• Put him in a high sided box filled with torn up newspaper, or cover with an old towel
• If the hedgehog feels cold to the touch, put in a bottle filled with hot water and wrap it up in a towel (A plastic pop bottle is ideal)
• Cover or close the box to protect the hedgehog from flies and maggots
• If there is an obvious wound or injury, take the hedgehog to a vet, straight away if possible. Tell the vet you want the hedgehog back if it is alright
• For advice on what to do next, contact us or the British Hedgehog Preservation Society

DO NOT LEAVE A HEDGEHOG
OUT IN THE OPEN IN DAYLIGHT!!