Adults only – sampling southern England COMPLETED - Page 43 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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The breakfast area was very nice. I am going to try some smoked salmon the next chance I get. It is a great feeling to be of some help for someone. The countryside was very green.
Saturday 10 May – part two: caves, cheese and a cathedral!
We managed to find a parking space right by the entrance to Gough’s Cave, which is what I wanted to visit at Cheddar. By the time we left about an hour and a half later, this parking area was packed, so Disney has us well trained to ensure we’re at places early.
We headed inside the shop first for a quick restroom break, then showed our ticket voucher for both Longleat (tomorrow’s destination) and Cheddar today.
You get an audio guide here, which is supposed narrated by Richard CoxGough, who discovered these caves in 1892, opened them up to the public six years later, and obviously also gave his name to them. The cave is 90 metres (300 feet) deep and more than a mile long, although the bit that’s open to the public is more like 800 metres long or half a mile long. It has a variety of chambers within in and fascinating rock formations.
In 1903, they found the remains of a man, who then became known as Cheddar Man, a short distance inside the cave. He dates back to around 7,500 BC, and I can’t even begin to get my head around how long ago that is. Unsurprisingly, he’s Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton. Fascinatingly, they took DNA from the skeleton, and managed to match it to a man who lives in the area today, so he’s an ancient ancestor. How weird is that? What you see here today is a replica, as the real thing is residing in the Natural History Museum in London:
I didn’t know any of this history really before my visit, I just knew that they were supposed to be pretty spectacular, and I wanted to see them, as I find caves fascinating. I just love the colours, and the markings on the rocks, so as you can imagine, I took one or two photos…
As we moved through the caves, we discovered the role that they played in creating genuine Cheddar cheese. It’s made by the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company, whose shop we would visit later, and caves were first used to store cheese centuries ago, because they were the perfect temperature and humidity. The method was then re-introduced in 2006, with the cheeses kept here for up to a year whilst their flavour matures.
Then you get to these amazing mirror pools. I’m sure you can see why they were given that name. I loved the effect they gave…
Next we headed up these steps…
As we did, we saw some more wonderful sights on the way…
I was fascinated with the way plants were starting to grow here. We learnt later in the tour that’s only because of the lighting that’s now been put in.
Then you go through here…
… and emerge into this amazing chamber, called St. Paul’s Cathedral.
The caves are fascinating. I read somewhere that they're worried about the plant growth that's now happening because eventually it could weaken the rock structure as the roots grow into the stone.
Had some catching up to do! How nice that you were able to have dinner with your friends! I hope that couple Mark helped was not involved in the accident Those caves look amazing! I am always intrigued by caves as well.
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
The caves are fascinating. I read somewhere that they're worried about the plant growth that's now happening because eventually it could weaken the rock structure as the roots grow into the stone.
Wow - how fascinating. You're always full of interesting facts.
Caves are so fascinating! I've been in a few in my day, but never seen the mirror pools. That is really cool!
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Tanya
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I LOVE Caves. We have some about 2 hours away and I keep saying every summer that we should go again as it has been many many years since I last visited...before Claire was born. I need to bring that up to Skip again!
Some much beauty deep in the earth is magnificent. I did notice this was not a bat cave!! Enjoyed the history of cheddar cheese, which I really do love sharp cheddar cheese.
I LOVE Caves. We have some about 2 hours away and I keep saying every summer that we should go again as it has been many many years since I last visited...before Claire was born. I need to bring that up to Skip again!
You should. I bet you'd get some awesome photos there.
Looks like my post earlier didn't make it I find caves so fascinating and loved your pictures of them! Thanks for sharing the history and too cool about the aged cheddar
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What you see here today is a replica, as the real thing is residing in the Natural History Museum in London: 
Those caves look amazing! I am always intrigued by caves as well.
I wouldn't have been keen on that... 
I find caves so fascinating and loved your pictures of them! Thanks for sharing the history and too cool about the aged cheddar 
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