https://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/en Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Of course no parents ever get it right which is why it’s best to leave it up to the likes of Merlin Entertainments to magic up family fun on the English summer holidays.

Our English neighbours have their little darlings that little bit longer than parents further north.

Whose kids are back at school this week.

Or west, on my other island of Ireland.

Of course, hotfooting it to the airport or the boats and Chunnel is an option.

England’s attractions

He nose you know: With Shrek in Universal Hollywood

But easier still is to explore the country around you.

And we know too that the English have been shouting all summer about getting their country back.

So with only English kids still being on holiday this is your chance.

Particularly with the added benefit for parents of 50% off for kids for star attractions.

At Madame Tussauds London, Shrek’s Adventure! London, Sea Life London, The London Dungeon and lastminute.com London Eye.

Waxing lyrical

A word to the wise though when you do make it through the queues to get face to face with the lifelike waxworks.

Because amid the famous and the freaky exhibits the cheeky curators at the museum have dotted around everyday statues.

So that you can have some randommer sitting on a bench reading a newspaper.

Or an inscrutable Chinese man in the Dungeons.

Only he was real much to my embarrassment when I tapped him on the shoulder to satisfy my curiosity.

And we all jumped out of our skin.

Ogre the moon

No danger of that at the new Shrek attraction… that’s enough Donkey!

The attraction is sited at County Hall alongside Merlin’s other leading attractions in the South Bank cluster.

The 2,000sqm experience is based on a brand new adventure written by the DreamWorks team.

It also features a Shrek interactive walkthrough adventure, a character courtyard.

Where visitors will be able to meet Shrek and his swamp friends.

Along with characters from Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon.

Played in England

Of course, as much as London likes to project that nothing ever happens anywhere else Merlin casts his wand far and wide.

So as well as Sea Lifes in the major towns and cities.

Every parent who wants to occupy their kiddies’ attention should visit Cadbury World in Birmingham.

Or you could be in with the bricks with Legoland in England’s Second City or Manchester.

Of the LEGOLAND Windsor resort where kids’ tickets come in at £19.

As is the case with Alton Towers Resort, Chessington World of Adventures, Thorpe Park and Warwick Castle.

Phew… that should tire them out. And we’re just happy it’s all behind us.

And yes you’re welcome that we’ve been able to magic up family fun on the English summer holidays.

America, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Food & Wine

Chocs away on Easter Sunday

17th April 202217th April 2022 funtime65

And for many it’s what today is all about… Chocs away on Easter Sunday.

And thoughts away of dem sweet places where I’ve savoured the treat of the Gods.

We have the Central and South Americans to thank for extracting the cacao which makes our chocolate.

And when we want to know more on anything our go-to people are the Smithsonians in Washington DC.

And Hayes Lavis, cultural arts curator for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has the skinny on chocs.

He tells us that ancient Olmec pots and vessels from around 1500 B.C. were discovered with traces of theobromine.

And for those who know their chocs they’ll recognise that as a stimulant compound found in chocolate and tea.

So now we’ve done the science let’s sample the choccie tastes of the world.

ChocolaTobago

And the way to a man’s heart is the love of a daughterie.

So when you come across a chocolate called Laura in the West Indies then you get that special rush.

This Tobago taste of heaven is a French-Caribbean collaboration and named for the manufacturer’s matriarch Laura.

Sold in high-end shops like Harrod’s it’s still best sampled where it’s made, Tobago Cocoa Estate.

Swiss sweet

We all know about Swiss sweets… Toblerone and it’s mountain triangular shapes.

And Lindt which is everywhere of which I was reminded from the minute you arrive in Geneva.

You’d have to tell me if SWISS airline still gives out comp choc to it’s passengers…

I like mine, my Lindt, though like the Asians who love to take selfies at the top of Europe.

To show off to family back home, at the top of the Jungfraujoch.

In Bruges

Was I the only one who wondered why a restless Colin Farrell didn’t cure his boredom through chocolate and beer?

Mind you, it would have been a very different movie.

Yes, go up to the cathedral and also check out St Anthony’s tongue.

But the best taste of all in Bruges is their oh-so-tasty chocolate.

Cadbury’s and Brum

Now you might not immediately link Bruges in Belgium and Birmingham in England.

But they’re both canal cities, major historical trade hubs.

And they are both hooked on chocolate.

It is no exaggeration to say that Brummie Joseph Cadbury was a chocolate evangelist.

As a Quaker and teetotaller he saw chocolate as a healthy alternative.

Joseph was a general good egg all round (or Cadbury’s Creme Egg) if you will

He set up a village in Bourneville for his workers and provided for all their social, health, education and sporting needs.

And a great pacifist, he even took on Queen Victoria over the Boer War.

All of which you can discover in the excellent Cadbury’s museum.

And finally, a Big Chocolate Apple

I’ve always been a great advocate of only having friends in cool places or jobs, or preferably both.

And in return they get the pleasure of hosting me.

Kate is one such, a New Yoiker and food and drinks editor who took La Famiglia Murty around Manhattan.

Chinatown, her own office kitchen on Production Day, and Jacques Torres Chocolate factory.

Now Willie Wonka’s got nothing in Kate or Jacques.

I mean bacon-flavoured chocolate… you read it here first.

Enjoy! Chocs away on Easter.

Countries, Culture, Music, UK

Britannia? Yacht to try these UK sites instead

31st August 202030th August 2020 funtime65

You know when you live somewhere but never visit that famous site, like me and the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh.

It can’t be because I take a stand against lavish palaces or ostentatious wealth… I love Rome and the Vatican.

So, I’ll need to get myself along and see how the other half live.

Heck, who am I kidding? It’s how I like to live when our killjoy leaders aren’t closing down all the borders.

But for now, and in the spirit of the Which survey of the best of the top 50 most-visited attraction I give you…

My entirely scientific and undeniably definitive five UK attractions.

Cottage industry

Alloway, Ayrshire: Well, if it was good enough for Wordsworth and Shelley and Muhammad Ali to visit!

Robert Burns’ home village in Ayrshire, the centre point of which is the cottage in which he was born in the 18th century, is a truly spiritual place.

Check out the statues of Tam O Shanter, Souter Johnny, Burns’ father’s grave, the statue of a mouse and Brig o’ Doon.

Robin reliant

The Robin Hood Experience, Nottingham: It takes an outlaw to know an outlaw.

You’ll immerse yourself in Sherwood Forest in an un prepossessing building near Nottingham Castle and get a chance too to twang your arrow.

While actors dressed in costumes of those heroes of legend interact with you.

Chocs away

Cadbury World, Birmingham: And you thought Willie Wonka was an invention, you Willie Wonka.

You can take a cart through the history of cocoa in this chocolate heaven in Bournville (yes, really), Birmingham.

On your tour, you’ll see how chocolate is made and best of all are sent away with a handful of bars.

Daddy’s Little Girl took two handfuls.

Churchillian speech

The Churchill War Rooms, London: And deep within the vaults in Whitehall in the heart of London, Winston and his pals waged the Second World War.

You can see his bedroom, the map room, the decoders.

And when we found all the other sites were closing up for the day they let us in. Well, we were on the right side!

Get back!

The Beatles Story, Liverpool: If The Beatles had been American then they’d have turned their home city into a visitors’ attraction.

Which may seem like a step too far although it does work in Graceland because it is outside of Memphis.

Yes, it’s great to have the museum down by Albert Dock in Liverpool, the bus tour, Penny Lane and the Eleanor Rigby statue.

But the idea that the Cavern Club should be in danger of closure because of financial troubles is a local and national disgrace.

Over to you Paul McCartney… don’t let it be!

Tag: https://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/en

Magic up family fun on the English summer holidays