Poole's Cavern & Country Park

What makes us a great choice for education?

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. Our brand new visitor centre and ‘The Hollow Earth’ exhibition along with our new audiovisual presentation and teaching room compliment the tour. We also have a new shop, picnic areas and play area. 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.

What is typically included on our school trips?

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.

Group Sizes Catered For

We can accept groups from 10 people up to 150. A cave tour is approx. 30 people and tours begin. every 15 minutes.

Materials, Resources & Information Provided

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.

Photography, Filming & Audio Restrictions

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.

Risk Assessment Details

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

Education Officer Information

The Educational visits coordinator is Alan Walker on 01298 26978.

Pricing Information

Group Prices 2015

• £4.00 per child (5 to 16)
• £6.00 for students
• £7.00 for adults

(Teachers are free with groups)

Clothing Requirements

Sensible outdoor footwear and warm clothing for the cave tour.

First Aid Information

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

Available Facilities

We have a shop which sells a wide range of rock and fossil specimens, gifts and souvenirs. We have a self service snack and drinks vending area. 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)

Accessibility & Disabled Facilities

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.