I have done several walking tours with Ian (Stratford, Coventry, Oxford and several around Birmingham) so I knew he was the guy to show my Twitter pals Bournville. I was right! I knew we'd picked the right guide when he said he lived with over a thousand bears...but look who he brought with him to assist with the tour? Weston Super-Bear! Well, his sweater said something like that anyway. Seems he was new and didn't yet have a name. We set off on our walk and stopped at a place Ian called The Birdcage.
Standing outside the Cadburys factory Ian told us that before Cadburys came, this area was green fields surrounding a small river known as Bourn Brook (below centre), a tributary of the River Rea. In the 1860s, Quakers George and Richard Cadbury - who had taken over their father John Cadburys's business, moved here to expand their business.
They needed access to canals and railways for their supplies so the location was crucial, moving to Bournbrook Hall in 1879, four miles south of Birmingham. There was even a rural railway station close by! They chose the name Bournville using the French ville for "town" as was fashionable at the time.
George Cadbury bought 120 acres of land in 1893, on which to build a model village for workers that would "alleviate the evils of modern more cramped living conditions." By 1900, there were 313 cottages and houses, built on 330 acres, with more still to come.
Concerned over the welfare of their workforce, the development of Bournville included recreation areas with swimming pools and outdoor sports. We took a look at the Men's Recreation Grounds, laid out in 1896. The half-timbered pavilion was added in 1902 to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII. Martha (below right) wanted to know where the Ladies's Recreation Grounds were - Ian said she'd find out later.
As we were learning a little Cadburys history, a large truck started up the drive. Check out the name on the top of the truck Great Bear, I couldn't have planned better myself - what, you think these tours are just thrown together? Mind you, some of the bears (Martha and Reddy) were just hanging around.
There's a stone and a plaque on the wall of the Bournville Baths building, built 1904. The Plaque says that the AD 1879 stone was taken from the house built, in front of the plaque, for William Tallis - the first works foreman after Cadburys moved to Bournville. The house was demolished in 1967 and the stone moved here.
These were the Ladies baths and the building has been closed for many years. On the outside there is a tall clock tower.
A little further along the road and we hit the sixties. Yikes! Bit of a let down, eh? Check out that architecture! Some of the bears had to get a shot in front of the Cadburys sign. Across the street (below right) is the building where the non-chocolate products came from, like Cadburys Smash. I love Smash and had sooooo forgotten it used to be made by Cadburys. Squeaky alien voice: First they peel them with their metal knives...then they smash them all to bits! Soooooo funny. Still. We say it every time we make Smash without real potatoes - why on earth would you bother?
Yes, I couldn't not include it here:
Alongside the Cadbury's Smash building is the Cadbury Club. This is one of only two places in Bournville where you can get a drink! Round the back is what was the Ladies's Recreation Centre. Nice and flat as you can see, don't want to make sport too easy for the ladies eh? Well, they should be playing genteel games and strolling right? In the distance we could see a folly.
We headed back out onto the road and in the distance we could see the Bournville Carillon we'd heard chime every fifteen minutes. It was built in 1906 and is one of the largest in Great Britain, with forty-eight bells hung below the domed copper cupola. Across the road, behind the lovely tree, we found the second (and final) location in Bournville where you can get a drink - but only if you are a resident. It's the Old Farm Hotel.
While we were standing by the road, Ian was telling us about the Outer Circle Bus Route - which is one of the longest bus routes in Europe - which passes along the road through Bournville. As he spoke, the bus came by - I'm telling you, organising this tour stuff is hard! It's not as dull as it sounds! We have actually done Ian's Outer Circle Bus Route tour (on our own hired bus, not on the public one!!) Was really cool, and very long...(about 27 miles).
We headed up a side street to have a look at the uniqueness of Bournville back in the early 1900s. The houses here were made to look different, not all the same. Gardens were important - they had to be more than three times the size of the house, enabling people to grow vegetables in their gardens for better nutrition. The gardens are still pretty and kept that way by the Bournville Village Trust which continues to maintain standards in the community. Houses could be rented, or bought, but by looking at them you wouldn't know which was which. The garages are a bit small though - built when cars were still small, and not much chance of getting approval to change it.
The one change they did make was that each house had a bath - albeit under the kitchen floor - you would pull back a hatch and there it was. However, they also built a public baths when the houses were built - because that's what you did! - but they soon found this wasn't used and turned the building (below right) into another house.
In an attempt to keep the drive your kids to school cos they couldn't possibly walk ten yards traffic to a minimum, Bournville operates a walking bus, with stops, where you drop your kids and they are walked to school - with fluorescent jackets and all!
This field behind me used to belong to Cadburys, rather than the Bournville Trust (which has always been a separate and independent body). When Cadburys were looking to sell off the land - who needs exercise anymore in this age of prime fitness? - there were concerns that a private entity might buy and build on the land (and not be bound by Trust rules!) The Trust raised the money to buy the land themselves so now it remains as a recreation area for the locals.
Bournville was a test ground for a variety of housing types. Bungalows (single storey houses) were built for the older residents, which was a new thing at the time. Look what we saw when we passed one garden. We were very tempted to go and have a group hug with the bear, but we thought best not to. Not sure the residents would have appreciated it!
Bournville was an innovative village and various methods of house-building were tried. The houses below are concrete - which was very echoy and damp (below left); mud - which wasn't very hard-wearing and had to be clad in brick or render (below centre); and this lovely looking timber-frame bungalow (below right), nice eh? Unlike America, where a lot of houses are timber-frame, it didn't catch on quite so well over here - all the rain I suppose.
There was another test programme at Bournville, as demonstrated by the houses below left. The windows on the north face of the house are quite small, with lots more brick wall. This aims to prevent heat loss through the window. The windows on the opposite, south side of the houses are much bigger to allow the heat of the sun through. Looks like another idea that was shelved. Below centre is the Boating Lake where locals could sail their model boats (now members only!)
The building below right is now flats (apartments) but was built as a collection of flats for professional women! In those days that meant women who chose not to marry and instead became secretaries or teachers or the like. The apartments were serviced in that meals were provided, laundry, cleaning and the like. A proper professional woman (aka. not a wife) would not do those kind of tasks.
Can't remember what the house is (below left) but below centre and right is the Bournville Junior School above which is the Bournville Carillon.
On the edge of Bournville Green is the Quaker Meeting House (below left), designed by W Alexander Harvey and built, in 1905, by George and Elizabeth Cadbury. It was a place of worship open to all (it still is) as - at the time - there was nowhere else to worship at the time, since then they have built churches to other denominations. Below centre is George Cadbury - well, a memorial to him, erected in 1924, two years after his death. His ashes are interred here, with those of his wife, Dame Elizabeth.
The octagonal building on the green behind me is the Rest House, built in 1914 to commemorate George and Elizabeth Cadbury's silver wedding anniversary, paid for by Cadburys employees around the world. The Bournville Trust use this as their logo. The building is today used as the Carillon Visitor Centre to promote the history and sound of the carillon bells.
There are two very old timber-framed buildings in Bournville, but they weren't always here! The larger building is Selly Manor, which dates back to 1327 and the smaller one is Minworth Greaves, built 700 years ago. They were moved and rebuilt in the village in the early 1900s and - according to George Cadbury's wishes - have been open to the public ever since. Tour Guide Ian even got married there!
By the end of the tour we'd walked over a mile - some of the bears were a little tuckered out - but we had just enough energy to thank Ian for a great and informative tour of Bournville. He delivered us back to Cadbury World in time for lunch. Phew! We were hungry!
We only had about forty minutes for lunch as we had to go to the tent out back for two o'clock. This was because The Sooty Show
had come to town! Oh. My. Bear. In stuffie circles, Sooty is a very important bear and we were there to see Sooty's Wacky Workshop.
Sooty was soon joined by his little dog pal, Sweep and it wasn't long before Sooty pulled out his water gun, to great giggles (and screaming) from those in range. Soo also turned up to join them so we had the full set. We didn't get Mr Richard but, to be honest, I don't know who he is anyway!
Sooty's goal for the show was to demonstrate some new inventions, including a washing machine! In true Sooty style, things didn't go well, even with audience participation.
Then came my favourite part of the show. Sooty had invented a radio made from junk, but Sweep had obviously been messing with it as it would only play Gangham Style - Sweep was HILARIOUS! I loved it.
But Sweep wasn't finished there! When Sooty tried to retune the radio he got Sweep GaGa! Great wig Sweep.
After the show we were granted (I had to ask a couple of times!) a private audience with the head bear himself! Oh, he was so nice, taking the time for a group photo and then individual shots too. What a great bear!
Here he is with some of my buddies - Reddy and Pink Ted (below left), BooBoo (below centre) and Kenny Koala (below right).
The Sooty Shows are only at Cadbury World on specific weekends so check their events schedule here. We didn't know Sooty would be on during our visit when we booked but we soon found out - Kenny is a big fan of Sooty and he spotted they'd be on! They did a great show and our meet and greet was so special, it really made our day!
Sadly, our friend Timmy didn't make it to Chocolate Tweetup - he tried, but his dad's car broke down on the way. However, we were able to get Sooty to give his flattie a quick hug and a wave!
We were advised to do the new 4D Chocolate Adventure. Unfortunately, this was back down by the Sooty tent - wish they'd mentioned that earlier! - so we had to hike back down the back of Cadburys again. Okay for some of us, but we had a couple of crumbly hoomins who weren't prepared for all this rushing about! Big signs required Cadburys! We got in what looked like a pretty long line at about 3pm - hmm, time was passing quickly. We asked and were told we'd have about a twenty minute wait then a ten minute ride.
While we were waiting, some of the Cadburys characters turned up! BooBoo and I took a photo with them in the background.
Oh my, there was no one with Freddo! I love Freddos! So BooBoo, Kenny and I dashed out of the line to grab a photo with Freddo, leaving our humans to keep our place in line. We waited a bit longer so we all took our photos on the astroturf hill - it was a bit slippy (hence the hand or two!)
After forty minutes we decided we couldn't stand in line any longer. They were going in in groups of about ten and there were still quite a few ahead of us. We wanted to be in the Experience by 4pm (Kenny and BooBoo had trains to catch!) so we decided to leave the line and head back inside, up that hill from the yard again.
Back inside we entered the Cadbury World Experience, starting with a couple of freebie chocolate bars! Yum. Cocoa was very important to the Mayans who used it to drink, but also for trade. They worshipped a number of gods to protect the crops and weren't averse to human sacrifice. Doesn't worry me!
In 1519, Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes landed on the coast of Mexico. Believed by Aztec Emperor Montezuma to be their god Quetzalcoatl, his arrival signified the beginning of the downfall of the Aztec Empire. Not to mention the discovery, by Europeans, of a drink called chocolate.
Below left is an Aztec Calendar Stone which guided Aztecs through their daily lives (not sure why it was there, but it looks pretty!) Montezuma gifted Cortes with a girl - Marina - who spoke many languages and acted as interpreter. She told Cortes stories of chocolate and Quetzalcoatl and Cortes used the information to gain power over the Aztecs. The empire was brought down by the Spaniards in less than three years.
A couple of mini-movies (below left) are used to show how chocolate travelled from the Americas into Europe, and the growth in it's popularity. From here we enter a replica of Bull Street where, in 1824, John Cadbury opened a grocer's shop, which sold cocoa and drinking chocolate that he made himself.
We met a couple of characters wandering in Bull Street. They seemed really fur-endly so we thought we'd get our photos taken with them! What a lovely couple. Tall hair!
We didn't really notice with getting our picture taken but while in Bull Street, John Cadbury arrived to tell us of his struggles, his beliefs and introduced us to his sons. As a Quaker, he intended to create a better kind of factory.
We entered a small theatre and took our seats. With the aid of a little motion, wind and rain how chocolate is made was explained to us by this apparently mad scientist! My pals (Chris, Martha and BooBoo) were a little surprised when the seats shook, but we enjoyed the show. I spotted the chocolate beans in the Muppet box on the way out of the theatre.
We entered an interactive area where they were showing how chocolates are made, but we were a bit pushed for time so didn't linger. I did meet this lovely Cadburys Cow, before heading towards the Packaging area. As we headed upstairs, we saw this picture of John Cadbury's Bull Street shop in the 1830s. We walked down a corridor tagged as the Cadbury's Dairy Milk Time Tunnel.
As we walked down the corridor my buddy Rosie spotted this great shot out of the window - the word Bournville on the side of the factory building. Pretty cool eh? This led to the packaging area where no photos are allowed so you don't get to see beyond this big mixy bowl of chocolate.
See this box of tricks (below right)? These parts were found in a scrap yard and recognised as chocolate-making machinery. Restoration was complete in 1991 and the cocoa and chocolate manufacturing plant became a working exhibit. The origins of this equipment is unknown, though a 1903 German catalogue illustrates identical machinery (presumably larger!)
On the way in, we spotted a green screen photograph area so we just had to get a group photo. Unfortunately koalas Kenny and Sheila had dashed on as they had a train to catch and a few others were ahead of us, but most of us made the shot. Then they put us on this Dairy Milk Chocolate wave - dont we look PAWESOME?
Well, I've been trying to photoshop the missing folks...will update if I manage to add anymore - lost the files when laptop died of wine poisoning!
While they were getting our picture ready we passed through the packaging plant. This is the only real part of the tour - as they do actual packaging of chocolate in this part of the plant. It was pretty quiet (being Sunday I guess), but we got to see some bars of Dairy Milk go from being nude chocolate bars, through putting on the wrappers and into boxes.
They had another photo-opportunity, so we took full advantage. What do you think?
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Once through the packaging plant, we headed for Cadabra, which was a nice gentle ride through Beantown. It was kinda cute, with cocoa beans hanging out, fishing and playing and skiing. There should've been another photo on here but fortunately it was broken (saving us money!)
Our next stop was the demonstration area. Here, each of us was given a pot of melted Dairy Milk chocolate and we were offered the option of extras to add, including marshmallows, jelly babies and biscuit, but I chose white chocolate buttons and popping candy - Woohoo! It was a bit sticky and gooey but very nice, as my pals Willow (below centre) and Reddy (below right) will attest.
They have some chocolate sculptures on display here, like a crazy golf course and an egg filled with the Cadburys Factory! There was also a section where they make hollow chocolates like Easter eggs or this football.
Across the room was Kerry and she gave us a quick lesson in chocolate making - my furend Jeremy has a blog about chocolate Jezzer Checks Chocs so he and I - as chocolate experts (I eat a lot of the stuff) got the best seats!!
First, she showed us how to temper chocolate - cooling it down on the marble top so it is at just the right temperature, making it a smooth texture and giving it a shiny texture and good snap on breaking. She ladled some onto the marble worktop then spread it out.
Once the right consistency and temperature, she picked up the chocolate and into the plastic mould. Solid chocolates would then be left to cool in the mould where they can set.
Where the chocolate was to be hollow to hold a flavoured inside, the excess chocolate is tipped out of the mould, once the outside is coated and started to cool. Kerry emptied out the excess chocolate back onto the table. Fillings can then be added before adding an extra layer of chocolate to seal the filling inside.
Once cooled, the chocolate starts to pull away from the mould (below left) and these can then be tipped out onto the table. Here she had made some chocolate lips but, horror of horrors, we weren't allowed to eat them! No fair! In their defence, this chocolate is used over and over again, without the constraints required for health and safety as it is only used for demonstrations, so it's understandable, but sheesh.
As we headed to the last part of the tour they have some of the Cadburys adverts on display. The assistant made me take the photo (below left) as it has Terry Scott in it - she remembers it! Do you remember the glass and a half for Dairy Milk chocolate. Then there was the chocolate roller coaster too.
Then we were done - and into the World's Biggest Cadbury Shop. It is a huge shop, with all kinds of Cadbury chocolate and other merchandise. Some of the items are a little pricey, but in the back room you can usually get deals on bulk buying some of the chocolate bars, like ten Freddos for £1.50. We had to dash off to the station to take Kenny and BooBoo and their humans, so I didn't have time to get photographs during this visit, but here are some from earlier in the year.
There's a few characters in here - Bertie Basset and the Caramel Rabbit. Over in the cafe they have the prettiest purple cows too! Ain't she cute?
We said our goodbyes to most of the group but Jeremy, Reddy, Theo and I had other ideas. Our friend Arpad (@HungarianBear on Twitter) had told us of a shop just around the corner from Cadburys that had a great range of beers. We just had to go to Cotteridge Wines. What a selection! A great end to a great day.
We had a great, but rushed, day at Cadbury World and Bournville. Sadly we never did get to ride the new 4D adventure, but maybe next time! Good excuse to come back really!
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