The sweetest place in Brum (Cadbury World)

Member Name: wishywalshy

Product:	Cadbury World
Date:	22/08/01 (1870 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good family day out, Interesting and factual, Free chocolate

Disadvantages: Free chocolate, Not too good tourist signs, Day had to end

Cadbury world
The factory in which the Cadbury era began, a visitors centre with a real difference.
Situated in Bournville Birmingham, Cadbury world is a chocolate lovers dream.
From miles away the faint aroma of chocolate fills the air beckoning you to visit this lovely place.

The visitor centre is geared towards informing the general public of the reasoning and origins of the now world-renowned Cadbury chocolate.

A little about the founders of the massive chocolate empire.

One of the founder brothers John started his one-man business in 1824 in Bull Street Birmingham, next to his father’s draper shop.
As his business grew and he was able to expand he rented larger premises at which time his brother Benjamin joined him.
In 1854 the brothers gained the title “By Royal appointment Manufacturers to the Queen,” a true honour.

As the brothers aged, the business was then taken over by George and Richard Cadbury, Johns sons, who eventually perfected the formula for chocolate, as we know it.
This came about by George travelling Europe to see how other countries produced their chocolate using fresh milk. He discovered the Dutch Van Houten cocoa press which had the capability to remove so much of the cocoa butter that it rendered the product pure and additive free, they therefore claimed it in advertising to be ”Absolutely pure, therefore the best”.
The idea of chocolate for eating was still not the norm; people usually dissolved a block in water and drank the mixture.

As the demand grew, the premises in Bridge street became too small, and in 1879 George Cadbury took the of step of buying a plot of land in some meadowland near Selly Oak, and naming it Bournville after the Bourn Brook and because it sounded French which was the in thing at the time.
The land was near to the river, two main roads and to train services which would prove to be an excellent move.
There w
as not only fresh water there was room to expand.

By 1884 the factory covered a massive 3 acres and were able to produce cocoa that was unadulterated by brick dust and iron oxide unlike many other more scrupulous manufacturers.

In 1893, appalled by the squalid slum housing George began to build houses for his workers, this was the first of many gestures from the Cadburys, others included pension funds, schooling for 14-16 year olds, recreational facilities. He also ensured a fair share of free Medical and dental treatment, summer outings and even an annual party.
Many of the benefits are still in use today.

The forerunner of all chocolate is Cadbury Dairy Milk, which actually took seven years to perfect. In 1905 CDM was born and I believe still remains the same now.

Now onto the actual attraction.

It isn’t actually that difficult to find the general area, open the car window and start sniffing just as you leave the M5, but the brown tourist attraction signs leave a lot to be desired.
Really though, it is only 1mile from the A38 Bristol Road, (M5 junction 2.)

Upon arrival at the factory you will notice that there is still a heck of a lot of green spaces, something which is less evident in many other parts of Birmingham, still proving George Cadburys words “If the country is a good place to live in, why not work in it?” to still be in the interests of the current workforce.

Many of the employees still live in the large and airy houses built by the brothers,

The car park is more than adequate and accommodates both disabled and able bodied.
Please note here though, wheelchairs and buggies although welcomed cannot access certain parts of the factory due to health and hygiene regulations, adequate buggy parks are supplied.
There were wicked little crème egg cars dotted around the front of the main building, I did wonder if you could rent them, they’d make a ch
ange from a bus.

The prices for admission are as follows(Please don’t quote me exactly on these prices, I had 5 children in my care at the time I was trying to take notes)

Adults £8.50
Child 4- 14 inclusive £6.25
Infant under 4 Free
OAP /Student £6.25

Family ticket £30, 2 adults and 3 children

I believe that there are reductions for group bookings.

The ticket price is inclusive.

The staff were courteous and keen to help without rushing you through, they were happy to find the cheapest option for our party and genuinely friendly.

The beauty of this exhibition is that you are allocated a time slot to visit, which consequently avoids large queues and irritable children too.

As our allocated time was around an hour and a half away we sought out the other attractions.

In the main foyer is the large gift shop, in which you can buy anything chocolate orientated from the tiniest bar to the largest 5kg bar(Jill Murphy would have had a field day LOL), and from a pencil to a personalised chocolate plaque.
I was pleased to see that greed had not set in as the children were all able to buy something worthwhile with their allowances and still have change for the regulation chocolate bar.

The eat in restaurant is also situated in the main foyer.
We found that although slightly expensive, the quality of the food compensated for it, the sandwiches and salad were extremely fresh and well apportioned.
Drinks were again expensive, but when bought in a plastic souvenir cup, refills at a reduced price were available all day.
The area was clean and airy with a ready supply of highchairs.
Again the staff were excellent.

The toilets are situated here too, which were of a remarkably good standard and well maintained too accommodating both the able and disabled customer.
My daughter informs me that there is also a separate parent and child room.

>Behind the actual factory is a superb children’s play and picnic area.
By following the footprints painted onto the floor, you are led to the area.

Judging by the quantity of equipment Cadburys has spent a lot of money in this area. The whole playground has soft safe floor and a multitude of outdoor apparatus for those energetic youngsters.

Again the whole area was scrupulously clean and constantly frequented by quite jovial cleaning staff.
There are several picnic benches, most of which are sheltered by gargantuan umbrellas providing shade in the sun and shelter in the rain.

Here it the magic marquee which provides magic shows approximately ever hour usually to a packed audience. In the time between the shows the magicians acts as children’s entertainers, and successfully too.

The Cadbury land Button show is also held here every 10 minutes, I would like to say more about this but my toddler escaped while I was putting the buggy in the buggy park and made a swift disappearance.
This is where I have to comment on the park security.
Within 5 minutes of her vanishing all of the security guards were alerted, her description circulated, and she was returned very quickly, more chocolate in hand(and on face LOL).She informed me that she went to find the chocolate.

I have to say that I was impressed with the co-ordination of the search and the speedy result.

In the general area is also a takeaway restaurant, which appeared to be of a good standard. I didn’t hear any complaints about either the food or about the price, so I can only assume that it was reasonable on both parts.

A face painter is also present, but at £2 a throw, with 5 accompanying kids it was just too expensive for us. She was very good, but I can do equally as well, and I charge a lot less.

After our little scare it was our allotted time to view the exhibition and to tour some of the packaging plant. r>
Upon entry to the exhibits you will receive your first batch of free chocolate.

The exhibitions on offer are superb and extremely lifelike and display scenes from the Maya people spanning back as far as 600AD, who are believed to have made hot spicy drink that they called chocolatl; they also used cocoa bean as currency.
Also on display is the story of the Aztecs importing cocoa beans over land, and the general history of chocolate through the ages throughout the world and following through until modern day.

The next part of the tour gives an amusing demonstration of how chocolate is actually made using the latest technology.

The packaging plant allows an insight into how fast this confectionary is actually made and follows a labyrinth of corridors through the plant, much of which is unable to be seen by the general public for health and safety reasons.
We went on a hot day and the heat in some of the areas was quite intense.
Here you will receive your next free chocolate.

There is also the opportunity to hand dip your own chocolate and to order handmade merchandise to be picked up later at the shop downstairs.
You are also invited to try liquid chocolate(Yes Jill liquid nectar yummm) you are given a small beaker and spoon and told to try to eat it without licking your lips.

There are interactive areas demonstrating all sorts of things from the making of a commercial to how the Coronation street set was made(Unfortunately it’s not made of chocolate :-()

The Cadabra ride is almost last on the list of things to do.
It is a charming little family ride in which you travel very slowly through the magical Chocolate land in a little beanmobile car.
My toddler was enchanted and again the scenery was terrific from tropical scenes to winter wonderland it really caught her imagination.
Photographs are available on the ride at a cost of £4.

The tour ends back in the large
foyer shop.

A few tips if you decide to go.
The staff prefer advance bookings on 01214514159 to guarantee entry.(We went in the middle of the summer holidays and it was quite busy, but not packed)
Guide dogs are welcome except in production areas.
The factory is quite warm, so ensure that you are well hydrated before you go in, cans of pop are £1 and juice 70p from vending machines inside the factory.
Photographs inside the factory are not permitted.
It is not a tour of the whole factory.

A little more information
Open from Jan 20th- Dec 30th.
24 hour a day information line 01214514180
Opening times vary so phone for details.
Their website www.cadburyworld.co.uk

My final conclusion was that the whole centre very pleasantly surprised me.
I was not sure what to expect.
Not only was in extremely interesting for me, none of the children seemed to be bored, their age range was from 3 to 14 years so is quality entertainment for all ages.

I felt that it was very good value for money and made such a nice change from noisy theme parks and attractions.
The staff were truly wonderful and exercised such amazing customer service skills that I would even consider going again.

If your are up that way, give it a try.

It comes highly recommended