Went today with my family and enjoyed the experience thanks to our guide was very friendly, had loads of useful info for us and made me laugh so much. Whilst I was a little disappointed that the canal didn't run through larger caverns it was still enjoyable even if it is a little over priced. All the staff were really nice and friendly, but he made the day. I do think however a few more lights in key areas(in the pit etc) would do wonders (sorry to the guys who have to change the bulbs) but I do think it would help.

Me and my family visited speedwell caverns today 01/07/2012 we paid £31 for a family ticket and seriously the attraction was not worth £10 its one long tunnel ride on a boat with nothing to see at all then you enter a large natural cave and yes its big but not impressive at all the cave could of had some coloured lighting or something because it lacks everything you have to wait 10 to 15 mins for the next boat then back down the same boring tunnel and up 106 steps back to the surface the guide was excellent (elliot) he really did have a hard job trying to make the tour interesting but dispite that he did manage to make us laugh a couple of times so its not at all down to the staff its purely the attraction is rubbish save your money your missing nothing

We visited Speedwell Cavern at the weekend with The Sheffield Military History Society and were not disappointed.

The day started badly when Lance Corporal David "Bum" Cigar and Colonel Carl Badger arrived late at the rendez-vous point, causing us to miss our pre-booked slot. Speedwell Cavern, however, were unphased and had us on a boat within 15 minutes of our arrival. Our young guide pointed out the key sights (the "world's smallest beach", in particular, will live long in the memory) and revelled in the attention he received from the female (as well as one or two of the male) members of our party when he demonstrated the traditional method of boat-propulsion - literally, walking on the ceiling.

There was a rather odd smell which permeated the Cavern at certain points, which we attributed to the on-going works at the nearby gentlemen's toilets.

Full credit to our guide for his patience who, amongst other things, had to fish a few floaters out of the water and demonstrate sleuthing skills of which Hercule Poirot would have been proud when the boat went missing at the landing point. "You've had your fun, now b*gger off" were his parting words. All in all, a most agreeable morning.

Some of the other reviewers should stick to garden centres! The novelty of the boat ride is interesting enough, my kids (5 and 8) thoroughly enjoyed it. Interesting info on the way the tunnels were blasted through by the lead miners in the 18th Century, evidence on the roof of the blasting, foot by foot, if you can be bothered listening to the guide as he explains it. The Cavern itself at the end of the ride is not the most spectacular in the area but impressive enough: the '3m by 3m' reported by others is actually more like 15m by 5m, and the cavern is 60m high!! I suppose if you wander around with your eyes shut all the time you'd find it boring, but otherwise the guide is only too happy to answer your questions if you're intelligent enough to think of any. And no, I'm not an employee, just a normal person with an element of scientific education and an interest in human endeavour. Well worth a visit. A little pricey, but not excessively so.

We visited Speedwell caverns today.Firstly we were left to queue for an hour without any information as to how long it was going to be. When we finally reached the front we were greeted by a fat woman who rudely told us cash only no debit cards. Luckily i did have enough cash. Then it was down the 105 steps into a boat and along a dark sealed tunnel with absolutely nothing to see.At last we arrived at the end where we expected to see spectacular rock formation. What a let down all that is there is a small cave, which can just about fit the occupants of the boat you just got off. After about 1 minute you are left with nothing to see for about 15 mins until the next boat arrives, then its back along the same route.

This must be the biggest rip off i have ever seen. The website and all their literature is totally misleading. The owner should be sued for fraud.

AWFUL !!!! DON'T GO

Owner ripped me off scared my son and would not give me a refund.

Should not be in business frankly and his arrogance has made me want to write this review and annoy him the way he has me and my family

John Harrison, the owner had no interest in giving me my money back after the guide scared my son within 5 mins of walking throught the gate. He is nothing but a con man. My other half stayed on to go throught the whole experienc only to hear the guide and owner taking the micky out of my son through his intimidating behavior.

should be shut down in my opionion

We visited Speedwell Cavern after doing Poole's Cavern, but even if we hadn't been to another cave site beforehand, Speedwell should be closed. It is a disgrace and unbelievable that it is considered a tourist attraction AND that you are charged so much. You get in a boat and some interesting tales are told. You get to the end and climb out into a 3mx3m wide area - this is it, your whole experience! On the way back, the guide has the cheek to ask you to show your appreciation for the guide in the white bucket!!! Completely dire expensive experience, please don't waste your money or support these greedy people. My rating is a -1, avoid at all costs.

We choose to visit the Speedwell Cavern, we waited in a queue for 2 hrs not knowing how long the wait was for, there was no seating for vistor's until got to the so called turn style, here you are expected to pay £7.75. The journey was happy one and the young guide was very informative. Over all we found the visit to be over priced, lack of information regarding waiting times but the scenery was lovely.

The Derbyshire Speedwell Cavern was a completely disappointing experience. Overpriced - £1 would be pushing value for money. A boring trip down a completely dark tunnel with nothing to see then you are abandoned for 15 minutes at the far end while the boat returns to pick up more unfortunate visitors. As for the website's claim of a huge subterranean lake, a more appropriate description would be a small dark distant puddle.

Visited Derbyshire Speedwell Cavern today , very dissapointed, nothing much inside to offer compaired to others, very overpriced, made my comments to management but they did not seem to care and offered no refund , very over priced for what it had to offer , very poor value for money

The whole thing is overpriced (even car parking is expensive). I would recommend the Treak Cliff cavern instead, much more interesting and free parking!

I really liked Derbyshire Speedwell Cavern, it's really different compared to other places I've been to. I went a few weeks back, I was one of the few that really enjoyed it, others were just complaining that it's cold and there's to many steps to climb up. Well if you want to do a travel and tourism course you have to do thing's like that. I would definitely go back again, and also look at the other caverns, but I would probably prefer to go with different people as they didn't appreciate it as much as I did.

The first time we tried to visit Speedwell Caverns, we found out that we had missed the last tour (4pm) - after having paid £3 parking (although we did get £1 back).
So, we tried again a few months later and wish we'd saved our time and money. I imagined it to be a boat ride tour through the caverns with interesting and spectacular points along the way. I also expected there to be CERTAIN times when it felt quite claustrophobic. In reality, there was a 15 minute claustrophobic boat ride through a tunnel to the cavern where we stayed for 10 minutes and then a 15 minute claustrophobic boat ride back. On the journey there and back (same tunnel), there wasn't really anything to see although the guide tried his best.
My advice is to go to Blue Johns Caverns further up the hill where it is a walking tour but much more interesting, more spectacular, not claustrophobic, open later, and you can park on the road at the bottom - I think, for free. Also, you come out the other side up on the hilltop with spectacular views.

We chose to visit Speedwell Cavern as that had a boat ride and the other caves did not. Our group of four thought our visit was a waste of time and money. We had to queue for 1 1/2 hours outside (luckily it wasn't raining). Whilst the boat ride was quite exciting for the first few minutes it's very dark with low tunnels and you have to wear a hard hat - definitely not for claustrophobics - and there's not much to see. You alight into a small cave where you have 10 minutes to amuse yourself. There was hardly anything to see, it was 10 C, quite dark and the guides tell you nothing. Then it was back on the boat to retrace the journey. Most disappointing. Certainly not worth £7.75.