11 hours Ago By [email protected] (Emily Heward)
Name one thing more exciting to a just-turned-four-year-old than visiting a chocolate factory. I’ll wait..
. Okay, I’ll admit I was just as excited as my daughter was to go to Cadbury World for her birthday day out. From Mini Eggs at Easter to Roses at Christmas, the iconic British brand holds a special place in my childhood memories, as it does for millions of others.
It’s practically part of the family. And people from all generations will find something to enjoy at the confectioner’s Bournville base in Birmingham, just under two hours’ drive from Manchester (if the M6 traffic gods are merciful). The site is home to the original factory - still a working production hub - as well as the development lab where new products are dreamed up.
The Cadbury World attraction gives a fun and fascinating glimpse into the making and history of chocolate - with plenty of chances to indulge your sweet tooth along the way. To my daughter’s sheer joy, the samples began as soon as we arrived and showed our tickets at the entrance, where staff immediately thrust a handful of full-sized chocolate bars at us. We were pretty pleased with our rations, a Twirl and a Cadbury Caramel each (God tier - fight me) but I’m told they used to be even more generous.
Munching on them, we then wandered through a rainforest zone, tracing the origins of cocoa back to ancient Mayan and Aztec times. We then emerged into a Victorian Birmingham street scene with a replica of the old J Cadbury Tea Dealer shop, where the business began in 1824. The Aztec Jungle at Cadbury World (Image: Manchester Evening News) I definitely found the history more interesting than my daughter, who was single-minded in her pursuit of more chocolate.
I think she’d have been happy enough if we’d only gone to the gift shop, to be honest. But the attraction does plenty to make the experience as entertaining as it is educational for kids. Taking our seats in an auditorium to learn about how chocolate is made, I was slightly unnerved when staff asked anyone with heart or spinal conditions to sit this part out.
Alarm then dissolved into giggles and squeals from all the kids as the benches shook us around like cocoa beans to simulate the roasting and conching process. Then we were off to see it for ourselves in the chocolate making zone. Because of food regulations, visitors can’t venture inside the factory itself, but here we got to peep through production room windows to watch the chocolatiers at work.
Peeking through the production room windows to watch the chocolatiers at work (Image: Manchester Evening News) But the main draw is the sampling station, where we were handed little pots of molten chocolate with a choice of toppings. It turns out there actually is such a thing as too much chocolate - my daughter left her marshmallow and chocolate button concoction after one spoonful (unheard of) and started to look a bit jaded. A trip to the Have A Go zone soon perked her up, where she got to drizzle and scrape molten chocolate on a marble slab to her heart’s content (and to her hands and face's utter disgrace).
It was here I began to curse myself for forgetting one crucial item: wet wipes. They’re definitely a necessity on a visit here. Luckily my friend who accompanied us came far better prepared than me, and there are some handwash stations too.
The Have A Go Zone lets kids get hands on - and extremely messy (Image: Manchester Evening News) Next we were on to the cinema for the 4D Chocolate Adventure - an actually pretty convincing simulation of a rollercoaster and airship ride piloted by the Cadbury Caramel bunny. I’d forgotten about that absolute icon of the 90s, and there’s plenty more nostalgia to be found over in the Advertising Avenue area - who could forget the drumming gorilla? Full of sugar, shaken around and feeling slightly queasy by now, we were glad to escape into the fresh air and let my daughter loose on the African Adventure play area. It’s divided into two zones with a dedicated under-fives area, so you don’t need to worry about toddlers being trampled by rambunctious older kids.
Equipped with climbing walls, net bridges and slides, it’s the perfect place for them to burn off their sugar rush. We made another big mistake at this point and somehow missed one of the main attractions, the Chocolate Quest ride. I’d known it existed but presumed the rollercoaster cinema experience had been the ride in question.
Launched last spring, it sees guests board a carriage and use lasers to zap all the ingredients needed to make a bar of Dairy Milk - with a chocolate prize at the end. Sounds fun. Ah, well, There’s a reason to go back.
The Cadbury Chocolate Quest ride (Image: Manchester Evening News) We finished our visit as all days out with kids invariably too, sucked into the gift shop. Indeed it’s a reason to visit in itself, if you live locally and don’t fancy paying the entry fee (from £27 for adults and £22 for children). Located right at the entrance, you don’t need a ticket to visit this absolute treasure trove of confectionery.
As you’d expect, it stocks the largest Cadbury range of any store in the UK, including exclusive personalised products and bags of mis-shapes. We finished off our trip with a visit to Bournville itself, the model village built by the Cadbury brothers to provide decent, affordable housing for their factory workers. Now a conservation area, it’s a perfectly-preserved place with leafy lanes lined by mock Tudor houses.
There’s also a lovely little high street where we enjoyed lunch at Kafenion, an independent cafe serving excellent coffee and healthy but hearty salad bowls. You won’t find any pubs here though. In line with the Cadbury family’s Quaker faith, it’s a ‘dry’ estate where the sale of booze is still banned inside the official boundary.
Bourneville in Birmingham, where no pubs are allowed The village of Bournville was built by the Cadbury family (Image: Getty Images) Cadbury World gets mixed reviews on TripAdvisor, with an average rating of 3.5 stars. Complaints are mainly that ticket prices are quite expensive for what you actually get.
For full disclosure, ours was a hosted press visit so we didn't have to pay, but I can see what they mean. We were in and out in just over an hour (although we did make the mistake of missing the ride) and if I'd paid £76 for the three of us, I might well have felt short-changed. Prices are broadly in line with other Merlin attractions, however, there are ways to save on tickets including using Clubcard Voucher.
There's also a 40% discount for locals . If I was returning I'd definitely look out for a good deal - and bring the wet wipes next time..
