Chocolate Story Walks! Is this walk calorie neutral...?

It was a happy few hours we spent wending our way through forgotten alleys and delving into the treasure trove of stories in Bristol's amazing chocolate history yesterday.

We're aware that tickets for the walks sold out in record time so if you missed out this time but would like to come on future chocolate walks please email anna@harvestfilms.co.uk and we'll add you to our mailing list.

A huge thank you to over a hundred of you who came on the walks, shared your stories, applauded Elsie and munched on a Fry's cream with us. Particular thanks to Professor Peter Fleming for telling us his rather risque Medieval legend, Hugh Evans former Cadbury manager at Somerdale and our chocolate manufacturing guru and to teacher and impromptu street performer Phil Dodd!

These walks were made possible by the generous support of our sponsors Stanfords and Guilbert's.

We were able to reveal on the day our secret treat finale; Alan White of Guilbert's opened up his chocolate factory to our eager sweet toothed walkers giving us a one of a kind behind the scenes tour, talk and sampling! We cannot thank Alan enough for his generosity and expertise - although I ate my Guilbert's truffles so quickly I'm sure I'll be back very soon to replenish my supply.

If you haven't been to Guilbert's then we cannot recommend them enough; if it's good enough for Buckingham Palace, it's good enough for us!

Care for an eclair Lord Mayor?

Last Saturday saw the launch of the Bristol Walking Festival at City Hall and a packed day of munching on eclairs and swapping tales of chocolate past and present.

New ones to us were chocolate tea from the Caribbean, getting the munchies for Crunchies on the night shift and we even met a man who can tell the exact temperature of boiling toffee from the sound of the crack it makes!

It was a brilliant day and we'd like to give thanks to the Bristol Walking Festival for hosting us and to all those who ate chocolate with us and shared their stories.

And what better way to burn off those chocolate calories with our Chocolate Stories Walks!

Tickets are selling fast but you can still pick up your tickets from Stanfords on Corn Street or online.

I've been sworn to secrecy but there are some real treats in store for walkers and I absolutely can't wait!

Until Monday...

Chocolate Story Walks are back!

The Chocolate Plant project may be taking a back seat for a little while as Anna and I are beavering away on other projects but we're very excited to announce that Chocolate Stories walks are back by popular demand as part of the Bristol Walking Festival! We'll be walking, talking, tasting and sharing some of Bristol's remarkable Chocolate Stories for one day only on Monday 5th May. For tickets and details please visit our eventbrite or facebook page. 
Then in the autumn, inspired by our work on Bristol's Chocolate heritage and Fry's very own opera star Elsie Griffin, we'll be premiering our new show. War, Women and Song follows the experiences of the Lena Ashwell YMCA Concert Parties who entertained troops across continents during World War One. The show will be opening at The British Library on 30th August 2014 before coming to the Redgrave Theatre in Bristol. You can follow updates on Anna or Bea's websites. 

And here's a bit of Elsie to get you in the mood. 

Happy Easter all!