I visited a real life chocolate factory with a huge range of chocolates you can buy (Image: Emily Heward)
What could be more thrilling for a four year old than a trip to a real-life chocolate factory?
I’ll admit, I was just as excited as my daughter was for our visit to Cadbury World to celebrate her birthday.
Cadbury has had a place in the hearts and traditions of generations of families, marking every milestone from Mini Eggs at Easter to Roses at Christmas. The iconic British brand has been luring visitors from all over the UK to its Bournville base in Birmingham for decades, ever since the visitor attraction opened its doors in 1990.
The site is home to a working factory that has been standing since 1879, as well as a development lab where new products are concocted. While you can’t tour the actual factory, Cadbury World offers visitors a taste of what happens next door, with plenty of sugary delights along the way.
As soon as we arrived, samples were thrust into our hands, with staff exchanging our entrance tickets for a full-sized Twirl and Cadbury Caramel each. My daughter was over the moon.
Munching on our treats, we first ventured into a rainforest zone, tracing the origins of cocoa back to ancient Mayan and Aztec times. We then strolled into a street scene reimagining Birmingham’s Bull Street in Victorian times, complete with the old J Cadbury Tea Dealer shop where the business first started in 1824.
The attraction does a good job of making learning fun for the youngest visitors, who might otherwise find some of the history a bit tedious. As we sat in a small theatre to learn about the chocolate-making process, it was slightly disconcerting when those with heart conditions were advised to sit in a designated safe area.
You can watch chocolate being made (Image: Emily Heward)
Laughter and shrieks then filled the air as the benches began to vibrate and jostle us around, simulating the roasting and conching process that cocoa beans undergo.
We then got to witness some of the chocolate-making process first hand. Due to food safety regulations, entry into the factory itself is not allowed, but there are several production room windows you can peer through to watch the chocolatiers at work.
The true highlight of this area is the sampling station, where we were handed pots of warm, molten chocolate to top with sweets and chocolate of our choosing. It turns out you can have too much chocolate – my daughter abandoned her marshmallow and chocolate button concoction after just one spoonful (I never thought I’d see the day).
Next on the agenda was the Have A Go zone, where she had a blast squirting and scraping molten chocolate on a marble slab (and all over herself). At this point, I regretted not bringing any wet wipes – an essential item for a visit here!
Fortunately, there were some sinks on our way out.Next, we ventured to the cinema for the 4D Chocolate Adventure.
Complete with moving seats, the experience quite convincingly simulates a rollercoaster and airship ride, helmed by the Cadbury Caramel bunny. If, like me, you’d forgotten all about that 90s queen, head over to the Advertising Avenue area for some more nostalgia, where you can see TV ad legends like the drumming gorilla.
Full of sugar and jostled around by the ride, we were glad to stop for some fresh air in the African Adventure outdoor play area. Split into two zones (for over-fives and under-fives), its climbing walls, net bridges and slides are fun for all ages.
Somehow, we managed to completely overlook one of the main attractions and left without going on the Chocolate Quest ride. I had heard about a ride, but thought the 4D Chocolate Adventure was it.
I was wrong. Introduced last spring, the Chocolate Quest ride tasks guests with finding all the ingredients required to create a bar of Dairy Milk, zapping them with lasers along the way for the chance to win a chocolate reward.
Sadly we never did get the chance. Ah well, we’ll just have to go back.
Our visit ended, inevitably, in the gift shop. It’s worth a visit on its own, especially if you’re local and want to swerve the entry fee (starting from £27 for adults and £22 for kids).
Conveniently located at the entrance, no ticket is required to enter. It’s an absolute goldmine of Cadbury treasure with the largest range of any store in the UK, including exclusive personalised items and bags of mis-shapes.
We finished our day out with a visit to Bournville itself, the model village built by the Cadbury brothers to provide decent, affordable housing for their factory workers. Today, it’s a beautifully preserved place where mock Tudor houses line leafy lanes.
Bourneville is a Quaker-built suburb of Birmingham built by the Cadbury family (Image: Getty)
A sign for Bourneville Green sits near the Cadbury factory (Image: Getty)
Workers wrap chocolate Easter Eggs at the Cadbury factory in Bourneville in 1933 (Image: Getty)
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.
Cadbury World has mixed TripAdvisor reviews and an average rating of 3.5 stars. Critics mainly complain that the entry fee is steep for the experience.
For full transparency, we didn’t pay as we were hosted on a press trip, but I can’t help but agree. It would have set us back £76 for the three of us with an advance booking, and we were there for just over an hour.
Admittedly, we’d have been there longer if we hadn’t missed the ride, and we did enjoy our day out.
There are ways to save on tickets too, including using Clubcard Vouchers and a 40% off discount scheme for locals with certain Midlands postcodes. If I was returning I’d definitely snap up a good deal – and remember to bring the wet wipes.