This beautiful little cave with its mirror pools and colourful calcite formations, was discovered by mill owner George Cox in 1837. Next door, the enterprising Roland Pavey walled up a small quarry to create his own "showcave"! He also constructed the 274 steps, which he called his Jacob's Ladder, to reach the top of the cliffs, where he built a lookout tower, which he called his Mystic Tower. The leases reverted to Lord Bath and in 1987 we joined Cox's Cave and Pavey's Cave together.

During the Stone Age subterrranean caves were often decorated with animal paintings. These could be "brought to life" by the light from their flickering torches, when tribal shamans wanted to commune with the spirit world. This continues even today in Australian aboriginal art. The dark sanctuary of the catacombs in Rome and of Romanesque cathedrals in Mediaeval Europe provided early Christians with their spiritual retreat. Cox's Cave evokes a similar response in many people – the natural beauty enhanced by lighting and their reflective mood captured by haunting choral music in the Russian Orthodox tradition.

Drawing upon other traditions, whether of the Classical Greek Underworld or of Norse legends from the time of the "Dark Ages", exemplified by J.R.R. Tolkien the author of "The Lord of the Rings", we know that Dragons lives in caves … and a golden thread runs through all these odysseys and sagas, it is the eternal fight between Good and Evil, as mortal heroes battle the foul creatures who inhabit the underworld. The Crystal Quest is a dark-walk fantasy world of elven magic and bold adventure, of Mordon the Lord of Darkness and his evil dragon Thynngar – for the imaginative child in all of us.

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