We love fashion, pretty sparkly things, cool homeware, glorious food and travelling to amazing places.
But, perhaps even more than all of that, we love our chocolate.
So, when the lovely Rewired PR asked if I would like to visit my old home city of Birmingham to see Cadbury World - paradise for addicts like me and my hubby - you can imagine my answer. Err...yes, yes, yes!
As soon as you pull up to Cadbury World, the smell of melting, cooking chocolate greets you in waves. I could feel my belly rumbling, and the smile starting to spread across my face. Welcome to your real life Willy Wonka's Factory.
The experience follows a self-guided tour, which you need to leave around two hours for, which winds its way around various exhibitions (including my favourite, the Aztec World) to teach you about chocolate, how it's made and Cadbury's amazing history. I found the film on how Bournville - the Birmingham 'village' where Cadbury is based - was founded particularly interesting, although I'm not sure just how much fidgety toddlers (it's recommended for kids aged four and up) would enjoy it.
Anyway, the chocolate indulgence started pretty much straight away. As soon as we marched to the front of the queue, we were each given a Crunchie and a Wispa to munch on, much to Zayn's delight (like his daddy, he is an utter chocolate monster. We like to start 'em young).
And as we wound our way around each of the zones, we were given even more chocolate to sample. Although the Packaging Plant wasn't operational on our visit (it has been when I've visited previously, and it's great to watch the boxes of chocolate whizz their way around on conveyor belts), we were delighted by the bars of Dairy Milk and mini cups of melted chocolate we were handed. We also watched as the talented workers decorated chocolate shoes with icing - what could be better than a chocolate shoe?
Next up, and we hopped onto a beanmobile to enjoy the small ride, Cadabra. The ride wound its way around a wonderland of chocolate characters (I spied the Caramel Bunny, among many more), which left Zayn utterly enthralled. I think small children would adore it.
The final zone - Purple Planet - comes with some brilliant, interactive games, which the kids around us seemed to love. I'm sure if I'd let Mr H run off and play, he'd have been gone for hours too. There is also a brilliant adventure playground outside for kids, which I reckon we will definitely be visiting again when Z is a little older.
However, I was much to eager to plunge into the shop - the biggest Cadbury shop in the WORLD.
Chocoholics will, like me, wander around in a bit of a daze as they're faced with every kind of Cadbury chocolate known to man. There were the new Marvellous Creations bars, Cadbury with Daim Bar, Crunchies, Twirls, Green and Blacks, giant Buttons...everything you could ever wish to eat was lined up in the store. However, my heart firmly belonged to the huge packs of Curly Wurly Bars so I could make this Curly Wurly Pie (one of our blog's most popular recipes) over and over.
But, for me, the best part came later as we made our way to Cadbury Essences. I watched as a shot of gorgeously rich, melted chocolate was poured into a cup. I then got to pick which treat of my choice (I opted for Rice Crisipies, hubby went for white chocolate buttons) I wanted added into it. I could have happily eaten this til I was sick. It was amazing.
Our verdict? A brilliantly chocolatey, toothy grin from us. We loved every minute, and will definitely be going back!
Sam x
