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! 

Our week at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

Last week we were invited to spend some time with students from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School developing the latest script for The Chocolate Plant. During the week we explored our personal chocolate stories as well as the stories of industrial chocolate production in Britain using memories, historical sources, music, dance and a trusty old overhead projector. 

It was a fruitful and fascinating week! We’d like to extend our warmest thanks to all at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school but particularly to Jamie, Alec, Nina, Juliet, Jen, Darren, Charlie, Abby and Lindsey - not forgetting, of course, our lovely assistant director, Lisa, for their playfulness, talent and creativity. 

Thanks also to Jenny Stephens, Artistic Director of BOVTS, Phillippa Haynes, freelance producer, and Carrie Rhys-Davis,  TF+ Officer for coming to see our show and share at the end of the week.

Playing with projections and images

Our chocolate loving actors! 

Sunday on the Bandstand!

We'd like to a say a big thank you to the lovely people of Keynsham for welcoming us so warmly to their bandstand yesterday!

Anna and I had a lovely time chatting chocolate in the former home of Fry's where everyone seems to have a interesting chocolate tale to tell. We learnt how chocolate tastes different in Ireland, that it's medically advisable to eat Thornton's and that some people who shall remain anonymous cheat on their Easter egg hunts....never fear; your secret's safe with us.

And since it was so sunny, we even took a few snaps!

Keynsham Bandstand

The Chocolate Plant - Chocolate Story Sharing Activity 

Keynsham Bandstand

Sunday 9th September, 2.30 - 4pm

As part of our chocolate story journey this week finds us at the Keynsham Bandstand where we'll be talking all things chocolate - and what a place to do so! With Keynsham's remarkable chocolate history we can't wait to find out more.

Join us this sunny Sunday for a delve into the tempting selection box of chocolate stories; from the Aztec Emperor Montezuma to the creation of the world's first ever chocolate bar by Fry's in Bristol in 1847, chocolate has been on a remarkable journey changing our tastes, our waistlines and the face of global trade forever.

So come along and share your favourite memories, recipes and thoughts or discover some of the fantastic tales we've gathered whilst developing our own chocolate story; The Chocolate Plant. We hope to see you there!

Now we've washed the mud off...

Well that was our first ever Larmer Tree Festival and what a stonker it was!

Thank you so much to everyone who came, munched, mused and shared Chocolate Stories with us last Friday and Saturday. It was a real pleasure to spend an hour away from the mud discussing our historical love affair with chocolate with some very game Larmer Tree festival goers!

We'll update with pictures soon and for those of you who took part in Chocolate Stories we'd love to hear your feedback so please do drop us a line.

We were lucky enough to hear some brilliant new chocolate stories to add to our ever growing repertoire; my personal favourites include finding out I'm not the only person to become homicidal with rage when people put the empty After Eight wrappers back in the box and learning that rodents of many species like chocolate - honestly chocolate really is the gift that keeps giving.

Bye for now!
Bea & Anna