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City that’s chock-full of goodies

Chocolate addict Steve McKenna revels in the rich and rewarding flavours of York.

With its cobbled medieval lanes, glorious Gothic cathedral and crooked timber-framed houses, York is your quintessential chocolate-box-pretty city.

But, as well as gracing the covers of countless items of confectionery, it is also the birthplace of some of the world’s best-known guilty pleasures. While other northern English cities grew wealthy on wool, cotton and steel, the merchants of York made a mint on sweet treats, with Rowntree’s KitKat, Aero, Smarties and Yorkie, Terry’s Chocolate Orange and All Gold, and Craven’s humbugs among the famous brands to have been spawned here.

This proud heritage is explored in York Chocolate Story, an interactive, family friendly attraction on King’s Square, a cobble’s throw from the postcard-perfect Shambles thoroughfare in the ancient heart of the city. I join half-a-dozen families on a guided tour, which starts with an audio-visual display tracing chocolate’s origins in the steamy rainforests of Central America, where the cocoa bean - the source of chocolate - has been consumed, traded and fought over for thousands of years. We get to a sample “chocolate” as the old Mesoamerican civilisations, such as the Olmecs, Maya and Aztecs, imbibed it. They would crush the cocoa beans, mix them with water and add spices, chillies and herbs. Sipping this cold liquid sparks sour looks on everyone’s faces - particularly the children’s - and the consensus is that we wouldn’t fancy trying it again. This isn’t the chocolate we know and love.

The next room brings us to the 18th century, when the cocoa bean - which had arrived in Europe in the late 1500s with the Spanish conquistadors - was embraced and sweetened by York’s entrepreneurial Quaker families, who opened cocoa drinking houses and chocolate and confectionery shops in the city.

Another cinematic display features actors dressed up in period costume, masquerading as Tukes, Rowntrees and Cravens, and revealing, in intriguing and amusing fashion, how York became the UK’s chocolate capital. We’re then treated to some Quality Street (which were launched in the 1930s by another Yorkshire family, the Mackintoshs). Smiles abound as we unwrap these morish nuggets (the caramel-filled ones are particularly popular). This is more like it.

If the first part of York Chocolate Story tour has a more educational slant, the second half is enjoyably hands-on. After learning about the production of chocolate - and the variations between the dark, milk and white stuff - we’re taught how to really appreciate it. The key, stresses our guide, is our nose. She gives us each a chunk of chocolate, and asks us to eat it while pinching our snouts. The result? There’s virtually no taste at all. Taking another piece, we follow her next instruction: as the chocolate crumbles in our mouths, and the chocolatey aroma comes to the fore, we must inhale gently through our noses. Mmm. Yum. This way, we all agree, is much better.

I’ve fancied making my own chocolate bar ever since I saw Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka take Charlie Bucket around his chocolate factory. The York Chocolate Story tour gives you the opportunity to make one, although the end result of my labours doesn’t quite match up to the standards of the expert chocolatier, who rounds off the tour with a lip-lickingly tasty chocolate-making demonstration. Her truffles and pralines certainly whet the appetite for some browsing in the in-house cafe and shop - though you may prefer a further chocolate fix at one of the dozen or so artisan chocolate boutiques sprinkled across the city.

Another option is York Cocoa House, a nearby cafe that takes chocolate obsession to another level. As well as chocolate-flavoured snacks and drinks - including chocolate afternoon tea - it has chocolate-making workshops and a library stocked with chocolate recipe books, stories and literature about York’s chocolate past. It is also a key venue in York’s annual spring chocolate festival, which tempts chocolate lovers with a packed calendar of choc-related events.

York’s chocolate industry may not be what it was - many of the original factories have closed down - but some old favourites endure. Rowntree’s, which was acquired by Nestle in 1988, still has a booming plant here, and produces around a billion KitKat bars every year for export around the world.

With all these chocoholic temptations, on top of its cosmopolitan restaurant scene and slew of enticing olde-worde pubs, York is an easy place to pile on the calories. Fortunately, there are plenty of nice spots to walk them off. You could spend hours poking through the labyrinthine streets and hidden nooks and crannies (known as ginnels and snickelways) of the absorbing medieval centre, while the city walls, which originate from Roman times and were reinforced in the Middle Ages, are delightful for strolling on a pleasant day. You can amble along the banks of the River Ouse and, if you fancy doing your walking a little further afield, the hiker-friendly Yorkshire Dales and Moors are under an hour’s drive away.

After savouring a few other must-see pay-to-enter York sights, including the awesome York Minster cathedral and its atmospheric subterranean chambers, and the award-winning Jorvik Viking Centre, which explores the city’s rich Viking roots, I spend two incredibly absorbing hours in the National Railway Museum. Said to be the largest museum of its type in the world, this admission-free affair is a boon for anyone who loves trains and rail travel - regardless of age.

The Shambles is York's most famous little street. Picture: Steve McKenna

Its giant depots shelter a fantastic collection of locomotives and rolling stock (including lavish royal “palaces on wheels”, a replica of the pioneering steam train Stephenson’s Rocket, and old British Rail carriages, which kids love clambering through). Complementing these gems are over a million rail-related exhibits, such as vintage signs, postcards and advertising posters.

The museum is next to York’s historic railway station, a key hub on Britain’s high-speed east coast main line network. Trains now sprint from York to London King’s Cross in two hours, with Edinburgh two-and-a-half hours in the opposite direction. If you’re coming from Manchester, a scenic ride across the Pennines hills and via Leeds takes about one hour and 15 minutes. Whichever direction you come from, however, York is a thoroughly rewarding stop.

Fact File

For the cheapest rail fares, it’s best to book at least a week in advance, though you can sometimes get good deals a few days before travel. See crosscountrytrains.co.uk for more.

York Chocolate Story visits are by guided tour only, taking place approximately every 30 minutes, and lasting just over an hour. They are priced £9.95 ($18.50) for adults, £7.95 (£14.80) for children (aged 4-15), with family tickets from £29.50 ($55). yorkchocolatestory.com.

The York Pass includes entry to over 30 attractions, including York Chocolate Story, York Minster and the Jorvik Viking Centre. For adults, it costs £36 for one day (or £48 for two; £58 for three); with a child’s pass from £20. yorkpass.com.

For an overview of York’s many visitor attractions, plus accommodation and dining options, see visityork.org.

Steve McKenna was a guest of Visit York.