Chocolates with perfume fragrance in Choco-story museum

As any self-respecting chocoholic knows, Belgium is the place to be, and more specifically the ancient city of Bruges (also known as "Brugge"), which is to chocolate what wine is to Bordeaux or pizza is to Naples.

This small Belgian city is an hour's drive on excellent highways from Brussels, and a northern suburb, Zeebrugge, is a terminus for the cross-channel ferries, so if you're visiting London you could easily pop over for the day for a sweet treat. We were driving between business meetings in the German city of Cologne and Paris, so we made Bruges an overnight stop, after a pleasant four-hour drive from Cologne.

The main drawing card for us was a new chocolate museum in the centre of town. Choco-Story is the brainchild of Eddie Van Belle and his son, Cedric, whose family-owned chocolate business, Belcolade, produces delicacies that chefs and connoisseurs hail as some of the world's finest.

That's saying a lot in a country famous for its chocolate. Belgian law dictates that any merchandise bearing the name chocolate contain at least 35 per cent pure cocoa. In 1924, a refinement in the law stated that dark chocolate must contain 45 per cent cocoa and 50 per cent sugar.

Choco-Story, the Chocolate Museum is a source of data and historical, geographical and botanical information as well as recipes for

- industrial and individual chocolate makers

- teachers and students

- chocolate lovers.

The Maison de Croon dates from around 1480. It was originally a wine taverne. It was later used by patissiers and tart makers.

In the 20th century, it was variously used as the headquarters of the employment exchange, the police training school, Crédit Communal de Belgique and VDAB (the Flemish Employment Bureau).

The taverniers were small wine merchants who delivered mainly within the town. They also ran wine taverns where they filled up pitchers, tankards, jugs and small barrels for the people of Bruges. Only wine was sold and drunk in the taverns. Food was available in the cafés and you could drink beer in the inns.