A THREE-foot tall chocolate sculpture of four York landmarks has been unveiled at the Mansion House.

The ambitious structure, which took four days to create, was specially commissioned for the York Chocolate Festival and was made by Ashley McCarthy, from the Sun Inn at Coulton.

It weighs around 22 kilos and features edible versions of Clifford’s Tower, Micklegate Bar, the Mansion House and York Minster in an “interactive property trading game” format.

It was unveiled by the Lord Mayor, Cllr Keith Orrell, and has been described by Michael Hjort, director of York Food Festival as “the perfect curtain raiser for the festival.”

The sculpture, which will be on display at the Mansion House, is to be raffled off in May to raise funds for the Lord Mayor’s charities, My Sight York, The Island and York Music Hub.

Last week’s unveiling was also filmed for upcoming Channel 4 programme Extreme Chocolate Makers, which will be broadcast from Easter Sunday.

The series follows several chocolatiers as they design and produce a range of specially commissioned mouth-watering confections.

Ashley has personally worked on five commissions for the series.

Lord Mayor, Cllr Keith Orrell, said: “York has long been an established chocolate city, going back almost 300 years.

“Several leading chocolatiers have even served as Lord Mayor.

“We are thrilled that Ashley is helping us keep this link alive and we are so grateful for his donation.“When we first saw the sculpture the immediate reaction was one of amazement at the attention to detail and the quality of the work, with even the Mayoral chains carefully sculpted.”

To be in with a chance of winning the sculpture go to lordmayoryork.co.uk

York Chocolate Festival runs from April 18-22. Full details will be revealed in April at yorkfoodfestival.com