Crazy Golf in Midsomer Norton, Somerset

A new Crazy Golf course is planned for Midsomer Norton in Somerset.

A new Crazy Golf course has been proposed to replace a derelict public toilet block in the town of Midsomer Norton in Somerset.

The new Adventure Golf layout will be an outdoor course created on the spot where the public conveniences were outside the leisure centre.

It'll be another course for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

A look at Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland.

A big thank you to my friend, minigolf rival and team-mate Kevin Moseley for sending over photos of the Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki indoor minigolf course from his recent trip to Helsinki, Finland.

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

A quick look shows "Hohtogolf" translates as "Glitter Golf". There doesn't look to be much glitter in that sh...portable toilet hole!

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

The rest of the layout looks shiny though.

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

A scorecard from Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

Check out the Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki website for more information.

Best Price in Clacton & Beyond!

These would've come in handy in the great toilet roll shortage of 2020.

Mini Golf Toilets

A look at the ablutions obstacles we've seen on our Crazy Golf travels.

Putting into the porcelain at Caddyshackers in Leicester last June

We've seen and played a few toilet obstacles on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

A pirate lavvy on a pop-up course at the Centre:MK in Milton Keynes

The putting suite at Caddyshackers

A closer look at the hole

An outhouse on the Pirate's Landing Adventure Golf course at Trent Lock Golf Centre in Long Eaton

The dirtiest looking minigolf hole I've seen! It's at Ghetto Golf in Newcastle

 

Into the cubicle

I don't fancy fishing my ball out of that hole!

A pirate outhouse on the Adventure Golf course at Center Parcs Elveden Forest, Norfolk. Photo by Christopher Gottfried March 2020

Related blog posts:
- Toilets
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

World Toilet Day 2019

Today is World Toilet Day.

Today is a day to highlight the global sanitation crisis and ensure no one is left behind without sanitation.

Established by the World Toilet Organization in 2001, World Toilet Day was made an official UN day in 2013. UN-Water leads a taskforce of international agencies to campaign around a common theme.

World Toilet Day, celebrated on 19th November every year, is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and help achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which promises sanitation for all by 2030.

For more information visit the World Toilet Day website.

Caddyshackers Crazy Golf in Leicester

A visit to the Caddyshackers Crazy Golf course in Leicester.

Last Sunday we visited Caddyshackers Crazy Golf in Leicester city centre to compete in the Caddyshackers Open minigolf tournament.

The entrance to Caddyshackers Crazy Golf course - it's not your average place for a game

We were joined in the team event by our friends and often minigolf rivals Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd and Jam 'Jamdre the Giant' Trubridge.

The dream team!

We had fun on our qualifying round on the tricky and quirky indoor course.

The skateboard and BMX hole

Beat the keeper

A brewing hole

At home

A rubbish hole

The 18th hole

Blimey!

The ablutions hole

Yes, the pan is the cup!

Up the ramp and into the lav

Emily putting for a two

Having a well earned sit down

This office hole was very very tricky

The Caddyshackers Crazy Golf course was the 903rd visited and 522nd played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The team behind Caddyshackers will soon be opening a tenpin bowling alley on the floor above the Crazy Golf course

Check out the Caddyshackers Crazy Golf course website for more info, opening times and prices.

House of Holes indoor Crazy Golf opening in Derby this month

The new adults-only House of Holes indoor Crazy Golf course is opening in Derby this month.

The date has been set for the grand opening of Derby’s brand new adults-only indoor Crazy Golf course, with the House of Holes venue officially opening to the public on Saturday 16th March.

A sneak peak at hole 1 of the new House of Holes Crazy Golf course

House of Holes has been created in the former Grand Theatre on Babington Lane in Derby. As well as the intriguing Crazy Golf course the venue will serve street food and cocktails accompanied by music from a resident DJ.

The House of Holes course will consist of 18 individually themed holes decorated with memorabilia, shop mannequins and other odd and interesting obstacles including a full-size plane – a nod to Rolls-Royce and Derby’s aerospace industry – roller boots and a large neon-lit guitar, which was discovered in the building’s basement and is believed to be over 30 years old.

The venue has, over the years, been home to a number of nightclubs called Ritzy’s, McClusky’s and Confetti’s.

We're looking forward to seeing what the rest of the House of Holes Crazy Golf course looks like

In addition to the work on the course itself, House of Holes has employed local graffiti artists to decorate the walls of the building, while old copies of Viz cover the interior of the men’s toilets!

I'm a big fan Viz comic, although it's not as funny as it used to be

In the last couple of years indoor Crazy Golf has really taken off and is fast becoming a favourite choice for a fun night out, as well as a popular day time activity.

Bookings are now being taken via the House of Holes’ Facebook page, with an 18-hole round of Crazy Golf costing £10.

For more information check out the House of Holes website, Facebook Page, Instagram and Twitter.

We're looking forward to a return visit to Derby and playing the course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Related blog posts:
- Derby
- Indoor Crazy Golf

Links:
- House of Holes website
- House of Holes on Facebook
- House of Holes on Instagram
- House of Holes on Twitter

Crazy Cave Shooting Gallery in Stourport on Severn

Spotting a Crazy Cave Shooting Gallery at Playland Fun Park in Stourport on Severn.

I'm a big fan of the traditional seaside shooting shack and so I was pleased to find one I'd never seen before at Playland Fun Park in Stourport. We were in town to play the Crazy Golf courses and noticed the shooting gallery between the two kiosks. It was quite different to the classic 'Old Zeke' style we normally see on on our travels.

The Crazy Cave shooting shack

Bootleg Fred

It's not a true shooting shack unless it's got a lavvy to unlock!

For a landlocked town Stourport on Severn has a lot of amusements, minigolf courses and attractions! We're looking forward to another visit to the town.

Related blog posts:
- Shooting Shacks
- Shooting Gallery
- Stourport on Severn

Link:
- Playland Fun Park in Stourport

A visit to the Portland Basin Museum in Ashton-under-Lyne

A look at the Collector's World exhibition at the Portland Basin Museum in Ashton-under-Lyne.

We recently visited Ashton-under-Lyne and the Portland Basin Museum to see the Collector's World exhibition which is on display until the end of February.

I'd seen the Collector's World listed in the Tameside Reporter newspaper and as a collector of many things myself it was interesting to see the varied display of people's collections in the museum.

The various collections were displayed in some very nice pods

Medal, sticker and bottle collections

The Portland Basin Museum is well worth a visit and the curators there were incredibly enthusiastic and helpful. We only had time for a flying visit, but we'll be back for a longer look around in the future.

We had a great time in Ashton-under-Lyne

The Portland Basin Marina

Interacting with one of the museum's social history exhibits in the 1914-1918 Street

Eat Less Bread. Wise words indeed

Visit the Portland Basin Museum website for details of upcoming displays and opening times.

Link:
- Portland Basin Museum

Related blog posts:
- Ashton-under-Lyne
- Museum

Loo-town

This evening I popped into Luton town centre to collect a parcel and decided to park up in my old stomping ground of High Town.

Driving along Havelock Road I saw this most peculiar sight!

There wasn't even a building site nearby. Perhaps the lavvy had just been dumped

Are the council calling for people to recycle EVERYTHING now! Or has someone flytipped an actual portable toilet at the recycling point?

There's a dearth of public conveniences in Luton, perhaps this is the future...

Links:
- Rubbish, Waste and Recycling on Luton Borough Council's website
- Elliott Loohire website

Related blog posts:
- Recycling
- Public Toilets
- Toilets

Lost in translation

We love travelling around the UK and in the last month we've travelled to Scotland and Wales and noticed a lot of dual language signs.

I always really enjoy driving in Wales as you know you're in a foreign country when you see the first ARAF on the road.

ARAF

On the doors of the toilets in the games-room of our hotel in Cwmbran there was a confusing situation!

Toileting abroad

It didn't help that neither of us could remember which symbol (depicted on the dragon tails) was the right one for male/female!? I suppose blue is quite obviously the men's lavvy.

Rather unhelpfully when I contacted my personal Welsh to English translation service by text I received a reply of "Men and Women". It took a second text to clarify the correct way round! Thank goodness neither of us had to go at the time.

After Araf (for 'Slow') and Allan (pronounced "Achlan", the Welsh word for 'Out' as in an exit) I like seeing signs for Canol y dref.

A brown sign pointing to Crickhowell's Canol y dref

We enjoyed our visits to Abergavenny (Y Fenni) and Crickhowell (Crug Hywel) and while in Builth Wells (Llanfair ym Muallt) we took a snap of Emily's new favourite Welsh words.

A Welsh Bus Stop in Builth Wells

Back in 2009 we went on a brilliant roadtrip around the Welsh coast and visited some great places - including Tenby, which in Welsh has a great name - Dinbych-y-pysgod - which means little town of the fishes / little fortress of the fish.

Check out our blog post about English to Welsh translations for Mini and Crazy Golf that we spotted on the trip.

This time we were in Wales for the World Alternative Games (Gemau Byd Arallddewisol) in Llanwrtyd Wells (Llanwrtyd). At the Games we ran the Finger Jousting (Ymwan Bys) Championships, played Portaputt (Portaputt) and competed in the World of Grip (Byd Gafael).

We're looking forward to many more roadtrips around the UK.

Related blog posts:
- Wales
- Minigolf etc. - English to Welsh translations
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played

Pirate Adventure Golf at thecentre:MK in Milton Keynes

Playing the new Pirate Mini Golf course at thecentre:MK shopping centre in Milton Keynes.

Spot Richard on the Pirate Mini Golf course at thecentre:MK...?

Having heard that a Minigolf course would once again be returning to thecentre:MK Emily and I were excited to give it a play.

Pirate Adventure Golf at thecentre:MK

Last summer we played the Jurassic Mini Golf at the thecentre:mk. This year the team behind that course have returned with a Pirate Mini Golf layout.

Playing hole 3 of the Pirate Mini Golf course

On Sunday 1st of June we headed over to make the 560th course visit on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 12-hole Pirate Mini Golf course became the 336th played since 2006.



The layout looks impressive in its location in Queen's Court at thecentre:MK.

thecentre:MK's Pirate Adventure Golf course in Queen's Court

The centre-piece of the vividly coloured, well laid out and fun looking course is a 20ft moving Octopus!

The GIANT minigolf Octopus at thecentre:MK's Pirate Adventure Golf course

The course itself is of the 'Eternit' type of Miniature Golf - with the addition of felt to the playing surface and a few non-standard hole types and obstacles.

Emily on hole 6

The pirate theming around the site is really well done and the striking blue of the felt on the course makes a nice contrast with the green felt flooring.

Putting in the wake of the Kraken!

It makes for a pleasing playing environment - even if the course is very tricky, with some tough second (and third) putts.

Emily lining up a second shot

In our match-up Emily, the Eternit Miniaturegolf specialist (and British Women's Record Holder on the surface), beat me by one-shot with a result of 33 to 34.

Emily playing hole 10

Both scores were good enough to get us on the course Leader Board too.

Emily in tied fourth place on the Pirate Adventure Golf Leader Board with her 33 

Squire in sixth spot

The course costs £4.50 a round for adults and the second round on the same day is half price. I took advantage of this and had another round after we'd had a bit of a shop around thecentre:MK.

In the stocks

The Pirate Mini Golf course will be in thecentre:MK until the 29th of August 2014 and is open seven days a week. It's an interesting layout, has friendly staff and is worth a play.

Playing the 12th hole

Further details can be found on the Pirate Adventure Golf course website.

The course was another to 'feature' a toilet on it! Though this was was not in use on the course

Women were seen as unlucky on Pirate Ships!

Emily wasn't happy about that.

In recent years thecentre:MK has been home to three courses, the other being a Crazy Golf course at 'The Beach' in July 2011.

This year the team behind the Pirate Adventure Golf course also have a Jurassic themed Mini Golf course at the Oracle shopping centre in Reading.

Links:
- Pirate Adventure Golf
- thecentre:MK

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Playing Jurassic Mini Golf at the thecentre:mk
- Crazy Golf at 'the beach' at The Centre: MK in Milton Keynes - Minigolf course played #263
- Milton Keynes