“Things are seldom as they seem” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore rang true as we explored England’s chocolate in Oxford, Birmingham, the Lake District and York in March of 2009. Our search for historic and significant chocolate had us schlepping 262 miles to the beautiful but rainy town of Kendal in the Lake District to visit the “Famous 1657 Chocolate House,” only to learn that while the building dates as far back as 1657, (with plenty of remodeling), chocolate has been sold there only in the last very few years, mediocre chocolate at that. Sure did not seem that way from the website.
At Cadbury World
At Hersheypark
Expecting more chocolate gravitas at Cadbury World in Birmingham, we encountered a faded imitation of Hershey Park replete with old style rides and technology, coated in overly sweet chocolate giveaways. Maybe I should not complain since Hersheypark provided no samples at all. In seemingly surprising ways, Hershey and Cadbury their business approaches, religious backgrounds, excitement about tourism and historical roots. Over the years, the two companies mingled other areas as well. In the early days Milton Hershey modeled some aspects of his business after Cadbury. Since 1988 the Hershey Company holds the license for manufacturing Cadbury chocolate products in the United States. Hershey almost bought Cadbury in 2010.
