Pooles Cavern and Country Park

Poole’s Cavern is a spectacular natural cavern in the heart of Derbyshire’s High Peak. Our expert guides will escort your group on a journey back in time through chambers once used as a medieval robbers hideout, Roman shrine and Bronze Age shelter.

Back above ground explore the beautiful country park woodlands and follow the discovery trail to Grin Low Hill and Solomon’s Temple viewpoint. Learn how the land has been used from a site of ancient ritual to limestone quarrying, agriculture, recreation and conservation. Discover the creatures and plants that live in the woods.

A visit to Poole’s Cavern is guaranteed to inspire your students and they will be talking about their visit for weeks. We excel at tailoring the underground tour to meet your needs for any age, topic and ability. We also have a new shop and picnic areas. The country park woodlands are perfect for short to medium walks to either just burn off some energy to a more detailed study of the changing land use of the area.

Poole’s Cavern is perfect for visits at any curriculum level.
Topics which can be focused on a visit to Poole’s Cavern include
Caves, Rivers, Rocks and soil, Under the Earth, Our World, Environments, Light and sound, The Water Cycle, Solids, liquids and gases, Changes, Holes, Conservation.

We can accept groups from 10 people up to 150. A cave tour is approx. 25 people and tours begin.

We can provide free curriculum linked work sheets and teachers notes to help develop pre visit projects and follow up work. We are currently updating our KS 3/4 material developed in partnership with local schools.

We do allow photography in side the cavern on the tour but not video or sound recording unless specifically requested as the tour is copyright. We normally advise that pupils do not use disposable cameras underground as the low light levels make photography difficult.

We provide a free document which identifies the potential hazards and risk for group visits to Poole’s Cavern and Buxton Country Park.

The Educational visits coordinator is James Acton on 01298 26978.

Please see our website for prices: https://poolescavern.co.uk/

Sensible outdoor footwear and warm clothing for the cave tour.

Our senior staff are qualified in first aid and there is a first aid station at the visitors centre.

We have a shop which sells a wide range of rock and fossil specimens, gifts and souvenirs. There is a 30 seat cafe (pre bookings only for groups), a large picnic area and a school education/indoor picnic room (pre-book only)

Owing to the nature of the woodland terrain there is no disabled access to the country park woodlands. The Cavern visitor centre is fully accessible (including toilet) and access to the cave has been improved to give a level path from the visitor centre into the main chamber of Poole’s Cavern 100 meters into the cave. Due to steps and gradients there is no wheel chair access beyond that point but visitors with limited mobility may go further. Contact us with your specific requirements and we will do our very best to assist you. Our staff are very experienced with special needs groups.