CHOCOLATE lovers have a treat in store this Easter with the fourth annual York Chocolate Festival from April 3 to 6.

Highlights of this year’s festival will include:

• Chocolate cookery school – A chance to learn from York’s chocolate masters how to work with chocolate to create your own sweet treat to take away. Running daily in Parliament Street, with experts from many York chocolate businesses hosting hour-long workshops for adults and children. £5 per adult, £3 per child

• Becoming a professional chocolate taster – Learn about colour, texture, smell and the smooth glossy finish that make the finest chocolates, and learn to taste chocolate like a professional in Parliament Street

• Make Good Friday, Great Friday with a chocolate model workshop at York Cocoa House in Blake Street. Discover chocolate as a medium for sculpture and design, and take away your own creation in an hour-long workshop, priced at £17.50 per person. Also repeated on Easter Sunday

• Join the Lord Mayor of York on his annual Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Sunday, from 10am to 3pm. Collect a trail sheet from the JORVIK Viking Centre and join a city-wide quest for chocolate, with a special prize for everyone completing the trail. £2.50 per entry

• Hear the story of the holy grail of Easter eggs – the solid chocolate egg – and discover how the expert chocolatiers create ornate Easter eggs up to 3ft tall at York’s Chocolate Story. Book at yorkschocolatestory.com, with tours priced at £10.50 for adults, £9.50 for concessions and £8.50 for children

• Explore York’s chocolate heritage on foot with the York Walk Choccy and Sweetie Tour, on Friday, April 3 and Sunday, April 5, at 10.30am, starting from Museums Gardens Gates. Tickets for 90 to 120-minute walking tours are priced £6 for adults and £5 for concessions.

Visit yorkchocolatefestival.co.uk