My Place in Chocolate Heaven

A gentle discovery of the history and background of some of the people and places that constitute this chocolate box urban idyll that we call Bournville Village. Discover things that you never imagined were part of its make up, learn about some of the people who made things happen, and understand the influence this humble little village has had on all of our worlds.

I don’t know where I live. That may be a strange statement considering I’ve lived in my house for over twenty years, and the area all my life, but it's true. My home is situated on the competing - and occasionally overlapping - borders of a number of constitutional areas, constituencies and parishes. This locality conundrum means I can sometimes get perplexed when filling out official forms.

My postcode makes me Selly Oak, my local council places me in the Weoley Ward, the national government tells me I’m in the Northfield Constituency. However, when I talk to many of the older locals they insist I live in Weoley Hill. Add to this, the fact that the whole area was developed by the owners of the Cadbury Chocolate company - with some of their factory employees erecting their own homes as part of a large scale self-build scheme - which brings the whole area under the auspices and covenants of the Bournville Village Trust (BVT). It’s not something I consider too often but occasionally it confuses taxi drivers. Maybe now you can start to see my problem!

For the sake of postal expediency I normally consider myself to be a resident of Selly Oak but for the purposes of this adventure we’ll call it Bournville, my little chunk of chocolate heaven.