Hadleigh Maid - Milk Chocolate Almond & Raisin Bar

What an amazing Easter Weekend! Like thousands of others we headed for the coast to escape the smog to enjoy some fresh air. Well, had we left our cars at home then the air would probably have been a lot fresher! Southwold was our destination of choice and I can safely say without any exaggeration that 50% of the UK population descended upon this quaint, coastal town at some point over the weekend. Smog also seemed to have tagged along for the ride veiling Sizewell Nuclear Power station in thick mist. 

Needing a chocolate fix I couldn't miss the opportunity to visit a few farmers markets and shops to checkout what was available ins Southwold and surrounding area. Adnams Cellar and Kitchen shop host a lovely little farmers market on a Friday from 9:30am in their courtyard. No chocolate, but plenty of delicious local produce. The kitchen shop had a mixture of chocolates available including Pralus, Green and Blacks and Booja-Booja to choose from. 


I was hoping to find Amelia Rope's chocolate but for some reason it was not on sale. Booja-Booja had a tasting of their organic truffles which were delicious but being a numpty I didn't pick up a box. Glad to see Southwold was doing their bit for the Royal Wedding with this delightful display by CRAFTCO.


A trip to another farmers market on Saturday at Snape Maltings was also a good find. The market is well attended with some lovely stalls including fish, bread, pates and much much more including a couple of singers that really helped to add atmosphere. No chocolate in here either but the award winning kitchen/cafe shop featured Booja-Booja and their own branded chocolate produced and prepared by Hadleigh Maid. I was interested to read that they have been producing chocolate for over 30 years from their premises in the picturesque village of Hadleigh, Suffolk. They specialise in providing a range of personalised chocolate products including simple 'Woodland Folk', animal shapes to you and me, selection boxes and 100g bars to name just a few. A typical example is shown below and packaging can be personalised to your requirements.

Produced by Hadleigh Maid

The Chocolate: Unfortunately, the bar was demolished fairly swiftly before any photos could be taken and I didn't think three half eaten chunks would show their chocolate off in a good light. So, apologies for the lack of photographs but you'll have to take my word for it that it was a well produced bar of chocolate. There is no indication on their website or on their packaging as to where the chocolate originates apart from the fact that it is milk with a 33% cocoa content. The bar contains nibbed almonds and raisins which are plentiful and spread evenly throughout. The chocolate is sweet but lacks a bit of flavour however it is a perfectly reasonable bar with a lovely crunch from the nibbed almonds. At £2.40 for a 100g bar I thought this was a fair price to pay. I'm going to give this bar a score of 5/10 which could be slightly improved had there been more information on the label about their chocolate.