Treak Cliff Cavern — Attraction in High Peak

My son Conor and I had nothing short of the best day ever yesterday! We arrived at Treak Cliff Cavern, dressed warmly, change of clothes, wellies, packed lunch. Prepared for the day ahead as advised on the website and booking communications. The steps up to the visitors centre are challenging, but again, we knew they were there, so we just took it easy, stopping for a look at the beautiful view and a to catch our breath on the way up. Met by our hosts and a welcoming chat, we decided to do the self guided tour first to learn about the site. Having preloaded the app, as requested, this lovely wander around the exquisite cavern was informative, interesting and just at the right level for us. Leaving the cavern we found ourselves at a spectacular view point with my personally favourite kind of information board, which tells you exactly which hills and places of interest you are looking at across the view. Back to the visitors centre, welcomed into the workshop with a cuppa it was down to suiting and booting for the trip back in to the areas of the cavern where we could look for our own Blue John delights. Coveralls and helmets donned, we didn't know how much fun it could be, digging through the mud (recently rained a lot) or surrounding rock looking for that special piece. Reluctantly going back to the surface for lunch then it was down to work again. Cleaning the rocks we had retrieved, learning what was considered good Blue John and not. What were the other rocks? How was the Blue John processed? Making our chosen jewellery pieces. Hands on every step of the way. Cutting, grinding, shaping, polishing and creating bespoke items. The shop is a testament to the skill of these people, just stunning. We could have spent days with the staff. So friendly, informative, fun, creative and helpful. Thank you so much to the whole team, for your enthusiasm, hospitality and knowledge sharing. It really was simply...

Well, to start with, I personally think that it would be better with a tour guide rather than a recorded message, you spend more time walking and listening than looking, secondly, anyone with a disability or getting on in years and who are not totally fit, there's no chance you could ever visit this cave because of the positioning of the cave entrance, being half way up a mountain side. When we visited in August 2025 it was raining and very windy, so battling with all this made it more difficult. My wife and I took her mother with us as she wanted to complete all of the caves in the area whilst she still could, she did really well but struggled on the hills leading to the entrance, she's over 70 years of age. The staff are really nice and friendly, the entrance to the cave is inside the reception area, all good from me, gift shop in the same area too to spend your hard earned cash in. Be mindful it is a cave so wet under foot and plenty of steps up and down inside the cave, although it is lit inside, it's still quite dark so maybe a head torch or something like would be ok for seeing steps etc. very low and narrow again in places but some areas of space inside too, it's well signed inside but a few choke points as there's one way in and one way out, the point where they merge isn't huge so could get busy there with large groups.

All together it was ok but not amazing inside unlike some of the other caves in the area, but we've done them all now but this wasn't...

My husband and I stopped by here on a rainy afternoon to keep ourselves busy.

Neither of us have visited a cave since childhood so thought it could be interesting to see. We chose this one as it had Blue John stone and appeared to be family run/owned.

The visitors centre on the hill is a breathtaking (quite literally - I should have gone more slowly) climb up some steps with a hand rail. Once there they have a picnic area, toilets, shop, mini museum and work room.

We downloaded the app using their Wi-Fi and embarked on our self guided tour of the cave.

This glitched a little at the start, but generally worked well as there were no other visitors meaning we could hear the narration which was good.

We had not put our walking boots on, and luckily due to the rails and grips they have put down, we were able to walk around comfortably in trainers. Walking shoes would be better though.

We needed our winter coats and the hoods were especially good at stopping those bit water drips catching you by surprise.

It was good to look around. They have a nice Blue John vein or two and some stalagmites and stalactites to see.

It did only take about half an hour or so and as a self guided tour, we felt the entry fee was a little too high for adults on a weekday in low season hence the 4 stars...