WOOKEY WONDERLAND

Simon Stabler goes underground to explore a popular Somerset cave system

- Simon Stabler

I've wanted to visit Wookey Hole Caves ever since Christmas Day 1986, when I received Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen on video. Starring Tom Baker as the Doctor, the story was part-filmed in the famous show caves, which stood in for Voga - "the legendary planet of gold". And while the "gold" that littered the caves in the story was nothing more than the product of the BBC's design department, plenty of real-life treasures have been discovered in Wookey Hole Caves over the years.

Formed over millions of years, as rainwater percolated through the sedimentary rocks, Wookey Hole Caves and the area surrounding it has been home to humans and animals for the past 50,000 years. Discoveries made here have included prehistoric remains, stone age tools, iron age artefacts, roman coins and pottery, and a 1,000-year-old skeleton.

Although the remains, which were discovered by Herbert E Balch who led excavations there in the first half of the 20th century, belong to a man aged 25-35, they are often claimed to be the bones of the legendary Witch of Wookey Hole who is said to have lived in the caves at the same time.