After walking around the Claremont Golf Course for an hour, the option to enter a building rather than continue being battered in the windy environment seemed like a good idea. Five minutes later I arrived at the Visitor Entrance of Cadbury, paid $4, and wandered into the Visitor Centre at 12.30pm.

Once upon a time, behind-the-scenes tours of the plant and equipment were possible. People have told me that bins of chocolates were placed around the manufacturing premises and visitors were encouraged to help themselves. These days, presumably for hygiene and safety reasons, tours of the factory are no longer offered. Instead, on offer is the play of a short DVD and a guide who talks to the images on the film and then answers questions from visitors.  In addition, the guide offers a taste of pure Cocoa Mass and the Crumble – one being bitter and the other more palatable. I was pleasantly surprised that Cadbury supports the international Fairtrade movement in relation to their purchase of cocoa beans.

The public section of the premises includes a café for coffee and cake, a shop offering merchandise ranging from T shirts to mugs and much more, and another large room stocked with all Cadbury, Fry and Pascall branded confectionary at discounted prices.

My visit allowed me to sit for a while and simply stop, relax and watch people salivating and stocking up with kilos of chocolate.

At 1.30pm I stepped outside, unfurled my umbrella to catch the rain spots, and started again on my walk southwards.