An heiress to the fortune of Cadbury, the famous British chocolatiers, is selling her £27-million (Rs 180 crore) family estate to launch a chocolate company to rival American giant Kraft, which took over Cadbury earlier this year.
Felicity Loudon, great-great-great granddaughter of John Cadbury, who started the business in 1824, says: “I can’t accept that Cadbury has gone to America. To a plastic cheese company. I won’t accept it. I want to start again. I want to make chocolate and I’m jolly well going to do it.”
Kraft, whose brands include Dairylea, Philadelphia cheese and Ritz biscuits, took over Cadbury in a £11.9 billion deal. It has since launched a multi-million pounds campaign promoting a rival — German-made Milka bars — to Cadbury’s much-loved Dairy Milk chocolate.
Loudon, 61, said her great-grandfather George, who founded Cadbury’s famous Bournville headquarters in Birmingham, “would be spinning in his grave”.
She and her husband John, 74, a former merchant banker, have put Pusey House, their eight-bedroom home set on 100 acres near Faringdon, Oxfordshire, on the market.
They have lived there for 10 years and Loudon, who runs the interior design company Private House, has described the property as the “most beautiful house in England”.
{{/usCountry}}They have lived there for 10 years and Loudon, who runs the interior design company Private House, has described the property as the “most beautiful house in England”.
{{/usCountry}}She was quoted saying that she had been “talking to wonderful chocolatiers”, without refused to divulge more details.