Thursday, December 22, 2016

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton

A visit to the Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at the Market Place in Bolton.


On the 21st December I headed to Bolton to visit and play the new 18-hole Lost Valley Adventure Golf course located indoors at the Market Place shopping centre.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in the Amazonia Play Centre at the Market Place in Bolton
The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course

It's a superb minigolf layout and a great location for a course. The 'Lost Valley' can be quite easily discovered as it's well signposted from ground level!

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in the Amazonia Play Centre at the Market Place in Bolton
Bolton's Market Place shopping centre - and the indoor Adventure Golf course - are well worth a visit

I was invited for a round at the Lost Valley by Simon from HM Adventure Golf who designed and built the course. We'd picked a good time to tee-off as we were able to get well into the swing of our round before the course began to get busy around lunchtime.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in the Amazonia Play Centre at the Market Place in Bolton
Five and a half of the holes are in the lower section of the course. The theming and lighting is great throughout

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in the Amazonia Play Centre at the Market Place in Bolton
On the 5th green. This is in the lower part of the course

In our round I managed to pick up the win 45-48 with Simon carding a ruinous 6 on the 18th hole to scupper his chances of victory.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in the Amazonia Play Centre at the Market Place in Bolton
Teeing-off on the 10th

I was very pleased with my hole-in-one on the 15th and I'm sure with a bit more practice on the course there are some rewarding aces to be had on the tricky but fun layout.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in the Amazonia Play Centre at the Market Place in Bolton
Holing out on the 13th

The scorecards at the Lost Valley are some of the largest I've seen. Once opened the scorecard is 41.5cm wide!

Scorecard from The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in the Amazonia Play Centre at the Market Place in Bolton
Looks normal enough...

Scorecard from The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in the Amazonia Play Centre at the Market Place in Bolton
But then when you open it up!

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in Bolton's Market Place shopping centre was the 420th course played and 720th visited overall on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 1

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Snakey

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
A festive hole 2

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
The very small but tricky hole 3

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 4

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 5 begins upstairs

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
But ends downstairs

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 6 was the toughest hole for me

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
The green on hole 6

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 7

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 8

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 9 and another festive character

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 9

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 9

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 10

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 10

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 11

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
The green on hole 11

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
The nice surprise on hole 11

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 12

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Which is the best hole to putt into?

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
The green on hole 12

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
There are two routes to the cup on hole 13

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 13

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 13

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 14

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 15 - the scene of my hole-in-one

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 16

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 17

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 17

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
There are two cups inside the mouth of the treeman on hole 18

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
Hole 18

As a bonus there was also a Miniature Train ride in Amazonia!

The jungle Express Miniature Train ride at The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
The Jungle Express

The Miniature Train ride runs along the edge of the Adventure Golf course
The Miniature Train ride runs along the edge of the Adventure Golf course

Check out the Lost Valley Adventure Golf course website for opening times and prices.

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
The flooring throughout the Lost Valley is fantastic - I'm not sure arachnophobes would be quite so keen!

It was great finding out about some of the other miniature golf courses the team at HM Adventure Golf are working on. Emily and I reckon there are around 50-odd more courses for us to visit in the UK, but with new courses opening all the time there is likely to still be 50 for us left to visit this time next year!

Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton
I'm looking forward to a minigolf match against Emily on the Lost Valley course

Head to the HM Adventure Golf website for further details on their projects. Their latest course opened at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan, Lancashire this month. We're looking forward to a game there soon. I understand that the old course - the 521st visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - is still in the park too.

Related blog posts:
- Indoor Adventure Golf
Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:
- The Lost Valley Adventure Golf
- HM Adventure Golf
- Bolton Market Place

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2 comments:

Richard Gottfried said...

It's sad to hear that Amazonia in Bolton has closed its doors.

Richard Gottfried said...

Amazonia in The Vaults at the Market Place shopping centre in Bolton has re-opened.

Great news to hear that the indoor Adventure Golf course there is now playable again.