The PWK Family was invited to attend a tour and tasting session at the new Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Icrecreamery. So on Friday the five kids and I made our way out the Maroondah Highway for our last big day out before the end of the school holidays.
Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Icrecreamery was easy to get to and this is coming from someone who frequently gets lost! It is about 60kms from Melbourne CBD, so would take an hour or so depending on traffic from there.
The Chocolaterie is set on 16 acres in the Yarra Valley and as soon as we hopped out of the car, you could tell much planning and attention to detail has been dedicated to the development of this new tourist destination which opened late last year.
Ian and Leanne Neeland have planted around 250 fruit trees on the property, planting them in a way that will compliment its beautiful surrounds.
The kids were pretty excited to visit the Chocolaterie and with the promise of free chocolate tastings who wouldn’t be!
And as soon as you walk in the door are large bowls of chocolate pastilles in milk, dark and white chocolate. The kids were able to spoon out handfuls to taste.
Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Icrecreamery is very kid friendly. Often specialised chocolate places cater for the tastes of adults well, but not so much for the kids. On offer as seen in the photo above was rocky road for tasting and a completely new chocolate for the kids to taste – chocolate covered snakes! They were a massive hit with the kids and I have to admit to loving them too, especially the red ones.
The chocolates are handmade by six French and Belgian chocolatiers, with support from 39 locals. The production room has internal glass windows, so the kids could watch the chocolatiers at work.
We watched as the nougat was loaded on to the conveyor belt.
then moved down the conveyor through the chiller which gently cools the chocolate.
It took some time for the chocolate to go through the chilling process, so we investigated the shop, but master 6 was keeping a close eye on proceedings and alerted us all as they began to make their way to the end and off the conveyor belt.
The shop has some beautiful chocolates to buy and I thought the gourmet collection was such a cute idea.
The kids though the metre long chocolate was brilliant and were quite keen to get their hands on a box of the chocolate snakes.
We then listened to Remco one of the Chocolatiers, who explained how the chocolates were made, starting from the cocoa plant.
I found this really interesting as did the kids and they have been telling almost everyone they have met since, why white chocolate isn’t really chocolate (it doesn’t contain cocoa nibs, only the cocoa butter).
Remco was very passionate about the chocolate making process and patiently answered lots of questions from the kids.
Then more tastings. I really liked that the kids were again considered here, with the first tasting being a bubble gum flavoured, popping candy chocolate!
The middle is a ganache, which I learnt is made from chocolate and cream.
Then it was on to some more adult flavours. It is very hard to choose which was my favourite so would say it was between the lime and coconut and the hazelnut truffle. (Please note to have this type of tasting you would need to organise it prior to going to the Chocolaterie, but there are plenty of chocolates available for taste without this.)
So what do you with kids who have just consumed lots of lovely chocolate? Take them outside for a run. Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Icrecreamery encourage kids to get outside and run around the property. They have this fab little mounded area for the kids to play on and tubs of balls for the kids to take with them and play with.
The kids would have run around for at least half an hour. As you can see from the photos it was an overcast day when we went, but I would highly recommend taking sunscreen and insect repellant when you go along (there were lots of flies outside!).
I stayed close by and checked out the nearby herb garden. The spearmint from the garden is used in the chocolates, the basil in the cafe etc and when the fruit trees begin to bear fruit, they will also be used too.
Time for lunch and again the Chocolaterie do their best to make it as easy as possible for visitors with kids. Activity and colouring sheets and tubs of pencils are readily available.
Choosing lunch was easy for the kids with a great snack box on offer which had a ham and cheese roll, fruit juice, cookie and fruit kebab.
Then after some further running around from the kids, it was time for some ice cream tasting.
The wild berry sorbet was the most popular with my kids, with lovely chunks of berries through out. The youngest one had vanilla, which he kindly shared with me – read he handed it over when he had decided he had enough! It was super delicious and creamy and you see traces of vanilla bean through it, it had a true vanilla flavour.
Then time to return home. When we arrived at about 9.40am there were only a few other cars in the car park. By the time we left after 1pm, there were lots of cars and the shop was much busier. If you are thinking about going with little ones, I would recommend a nice early start.
There were so many nice things to photograph at Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Icrecreamery, you can see some more of my photos on flickr here.
Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Icrecreamery – The Details
Bookings: Not required to visit the Chocolaterie or the Café.
Tour Groups: Large groups and tours are welcome but it is asked that you contact them prior to your visit.
Cost: Free entry
Opening hours: Open every day 9am-5pm (except Christmas Day)
Location: 35 Old Healesville Road (cnr Melba Highway), Yarra Glen, Victoria
Phone: 03 9730 2777
Website: Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Icrecreamery
Facebook: Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Icrecreamery Facebook
Have you visited Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Icrecreamery yet? If so what was your favourite choc or ice cream?