Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium
6 High Street, Ilfracombe, Devon EX34 9DF
‘Chocolate is the food of the gods,’ say Ilfracombe’s very own Willy Wonkas. Dawn French is among the fans of the award-winning chocolate they produce in this Edwardian shop, which is then confected into the head-spinning array of products for sale. The extensive assortment changes regularly, ranging from bars to handmade mixed boxes. Fancy some white chocolate? Try the Belgian offering with caramel, or giant buttons. Looking for a delicious treat for a child? Choose one of the heavenly chocolate animals. The team is always experimenting with new flavours – and they also have an excellent selection of traditional favourites such as ginger, violet and coffee crèmes. If you don’t live in the area, the shop will post goodies out.
At the back of the shop is a free-admission chocolate museum which makes fine rainy-day activity, even if it inevitably leads you to emptying every penny from your pocket a few minutes later. For anyone interested in learning about how chocolate is produced, you can hear an array of fascinating choc-history facts. For instance, did you know that it takes a year’s harvest from one cocoa tree to produce 1lb (450g) of cocoa? Or that the tree is only cultivated in West Africa, North & Central America, the Caribbean and some parts of Asia? Theobroma, the Latin name for the cacao bean tree says it all, translating as “food of the gods”.
