AN OCCASION LIKE NOTHING ON EARTH
(BECAUSE IT’S LITERALLY BELOW THE EARTH)
We run many and varied events throughout the year, including watching films underground, caving, theatrical events, and even parties in our amazing cave complex. The caves are also available for tv and film location shoots.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Clearwell Caves Christmas 2019 – Archie and the Unicorn
29th November – 24th December 2019
Christmas at Clearwell Caves takes you into a whole other world where forests grow underground and the story of ‘Archie and the Unicorn’ unfolds in beautiful displays through caverns filled with twinkling lights. Father Christmas awaits you, along with his elves, who will help you choose an early gift. There are stalls and an underground café half way through where you can buy stocking fillers, Christmas decorations and seasonal treats, as well as delicious refreshments before you continue on your magical journey – the perfect way to start your Christmas. The Forest of Dean Brass Band will be playing on the opening Saturday (30th Nov) and Sunday (1st Dec) between 2-4pm.
Opening Times:
29th November – 23rd December: 10.00am – 5.00pm (daily except late night Fridays)
Late night opening on Fridays 10.00am-7.00pm (last entry 7pm-close 8pm).
24th December, Christmas Eve: 10.00am – 4.00pm
Booking is essential, tickets available here: Book Now
Visiting the Caves After Christmas
27th – 31st December 2019
Clearwell Caves will be open after Christmas for anyone who wishes to enjoy a final look at our magical Christmas story. Whilst Father Christmas and our underground stalls will have left, you can still walk through our beautiful displays and enjoy delicious refreshments in front of a warming fire in our Lamproom Cafe.
Opening times: 27th – 31st December, 10am – 4pm
Bat Nav
Sound and interactive installations have been positioned through the caverns.
The project was inspired by the large colony of rare lesser horseshoe bats that roost in the Caves through winter; this is currently the largest lesser horseshoe bat colony in the UK. The installations highlight how both humans and bats use sound. Hopefully it will help visitors appreciate these often ignored, misunderstood and incredibly interesting, wild animals.
The central feature is a standing wave, a single note, where you are encouraged to move about in the cavern. Listen to the way the sound changes in relation to the space and your position within it. Moving, listening and understanding the way in which sound changes and its relationship to the cavern, gives us a glimpse of the way that bats navigate, using only sound.
There are other sound installations in the caves, revealing complex bat voices, as well as archive recordings of iron miners, discussing their experiences, working underground in this mine, well over 70 years ago.
VENUE HIRE FOR YOUR EVENT
Try as hard as you might you’ll struggle to find a venue as memorable, as magical and as utterly unique as Clearwell Caves. Give your guests and your occasion the grandeur and beauty it deserves; whether it be wedding, birthday, or office party make our caverns your dancefloor.
LOCATION HIRE FOR TV & FILM
A place this otherworldly, this unique, this historic, this mysterious and even a little scary makes it ideal for the big and small screen. We have already hosted crews from Dr Who, Merlin, The Chronicles of Narnia, Da Vinci’s Demons, Time Team, Blake’s Seven… and so many more.
