Cadbury World

George and Richard Cadbury moved production out of central Birmingham in 1879 to a greenfield site they named Bournville, and from 1893 built a model village around it with cottages, gardens large enough to grow vegetables, schools and parks, on Quaker principles; alcohol was not sold, and the village still has no pub. The visitor centre opened in 1990 in part of the works and covers the cocoa trade, the family's history and the manufacturing, with a section where liquid chocolate is dispensed to taste and a small area where staff temper and write with it. It is a marketing attraction rather than a factory tour: the working production lines are not on the route, though a window looks onto packaging. The village around it, with its greens and Bournville Village Trust housing, is worth walking.

What's there

• The model village - Bournville, built from 1893 and still without a pub.
• The liquid chocolate - warm chocolate dispensed to taste on the route.
• The tempering demonstration - staff working chocolate by hand.
• The Quaker history - the family's reasons for building the village.

When to go

Year-round with timed entry booked ahead; school holidays and weekends sell out. The village itself is best walked in spring and summer when the greens and gardens are in leaf.

Good to know

It is a brand attraction aimed at families, with heavy retail at the end, and adults expecting an industrial tour will not get one. Actual production is not visible on the route. Queues form at the interactive sections even with timed tickets.

Nearby

Bournville village and the Selly Manor museum are a short walk; central Birmingham is fifteen minutes by train.

Key facts