Wonka

How about this for a new and unusual event for the Children during the Easter Holidays? Nevedon Manor are running their first ever Wonka event on the Nevendon Manor grounds and we were fortunate to get tickets for the boys before they sold out. Basically the grounds have been transformed into the chocolate factory and you are given a 1 hour tour through the grounds where actors play out various scenes from the film/book. At each scene you are generally left with a request to go and find Charlie and get his help. Then at the end of the tour when you eventually meet Charlie, he asks 3 questions and if you get them right then all the kids get a Wonka chocolate bar. If you are really lucky you get the golden ticket , however Joshua and Brandon didn't get this with their Wonka bar.

 

The entrance to Wonka at Nevedon Manor.

Willie Wonka makes his grand entrance as the Wonka theme music plays across the speaker system.

Joshua gets to meet the actor who played Wonka. I have to say he played the part very, very well.

 

Brandon wanted his picture with Wonka on his own rather than with his brother.

I know the wellie boots look a bit daft but we was advised that it was muddy over their due to the rain and boots were recommended. However it was also a lovely spring day and the boys wanted to wear shorts and t-shirt. So not a great fashion statement wearing shorts and wellies!



The chocolate path with some seriously over sized sweets growing in the factory fields.

Check out the colour of the green gloop water in the main pond.

Did Brandon need the toilet or was he doing a Michael Jackson dance?

The first scene we came to had Augustus Gloop stuck in the pipe shouting out for the kids help. A German character (I have no idea his name) then comes onto the scene and gets the children to try and pull Augustus out of the pipe using a rope. The actor playing the German character is outstanding and really puts on a great accent. He was so funny asking the kids to put on their mean faces and stop smiling whilst pulling the rope.

The boys cross a small bridge to the shouts of "Help" from Augustus Gloop.

Uh oh, stuck in the pipe of some rather blue looking gloop.

The German character getting the kids to pull the rope with their mean faces on.

He wasn't impressed that Joshua kept smiling and wasn't doing his mean face.

After failing to get Augustus out of the tube, the German character asks the kids to go and find Charlie for help.

An oompa loompas pouring sugar into a sweet machine with smoke and bubbles oozing out.
 

Joshua and Brandon meet some Oompa Loompas who find it amusing to pull faces behind the boys back when you take a picture of them.

The sign says it all really.

The nasty Mr Slugworth wanted the children to steal Charlie's new recipe for sweets which do not do any damage to your teeth.

Joshua and Brandon walking through Gobstopper woods.

Next came Grandma who was preparing the cabbage soup for Charlie and Grandpa. She had a job for the kids to go and wake up the sleeping Grandpa who was snoring away very loudly. The kids all had to shout as loud as they could to wake Grandpa whilst Grandma prodded him with a walking stick. After spending 20 years in bed he was very wobbly as he tried to stand up. He eventually got to his feet using two walking sticks and then wanted to come on the hunt for Charlie until Grandma sent him back to bed for his cabbage soup. So the next mission for the kids was to find Charlie for Grandma and tell him his soup was getting cold. 

Grandma attending to her cabbages.

Entering the bedroom where Grandpa was snoring rather loudly.

Joshua not looking too happy at the thought of waking the sleeping Grandpa.

He tries to get to his feet but is very wobbly after spending 20 years in bed.

Finally he is up using two walking sticks and ready to go searching for Charlie.

The next part of the adventure took us through pop fizz woods where we met Violet Beauregade who had eaten one of the sweets despite Willie telling all the kids explicitly not to touch, eat or lick anything. She swells into a giant circular shape and wants the kids to hurry and find Charlie to help her before she explodes.

Violet Beauregarde paying the price for eating the sweets at the Chocolate factory.

Brandon posing by the Wonka Pop machine.

Cherry fondant fountain and just how red is that water????

Now with my birthday looming in 3 days time this is the sort of giant sweet that would be perfect for me.

There were various other scenes for the children to view including the Wonka Vision where a girl called Stevie (I think) was told to not go into a radioactive box by her dad. She didn't listen and before your very eyes she vanished and appeared shrunk and on a TV screen. Her dad was then panicking and wanted all the children to again search for Charlie to help get his daughter out of the TV. There was also an animal scene by the Manor farm animals which featured the very spoilt  Veruca Salt. Eventually the boys finally got to meet Charlie himself at the end of the tour. Charlie asked them the 3 key questions and then gave all the kids a free Wonka bar of chocolate.

The boys finally find Charlie.

Two happy bunnies with their Wonka chocolate bars.

For the first time they have ran this event I would say they did a very good job. The characters all did a very good job and really seemed to get stuck into their roles. The children were entertained and enjoyed the story, plus getting choccie at the end was a bonus. For £10 and to do something a little different for Easter I would highly recommend. As a final comment I would apologise if I have any of the character names wrong or got the story incorrect, however I am embarrassed to say I have never watched Charlie & The Chocolate Factory all the way through or read the book!!!!