A return to Fantasia Adventure Golf in Felixstowe

Playing another round at Fantasia Adventure Golf in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

In December we returned to East Anglia to visit family and friends and while in Felixstowe  we swung by our most visited course, Fantasia Adventure Golf in Felixstowe. Luckily the weather was really nice and the course was open to play!

My opponents on this occasion would be Karl Moles and his daughter Arabella. Karl, the Suffolk Coastal champion defeated me on the course in our first round way back in May 2011. I'd gained a win back against Karl in our rematch in June 2014 so we were all set for a very competitive round on the 9-hole layout.

Hole 1 at Fantasia Adventure Golf

Karl started with a pair of threes, while I dropped shots picking up a pair of fours - the same scores as the debuting Arabella.

Hole 1 can certainly be a puzzler

We all shot a three on the third hole - Twister - before Karl extended his lead with a hole-in-one on hole 4 - Humpy.

Karl helping Arabella with a shot on hole 2 - or is it the other way round?

Threes followed on the fifth, fours on the sixth and twos for all on the seventh. Amazingly Arabella, with a little help from her mum Sophia, shot a three on the eighth hole, while Karl and I both hit fours.

Arabella with a tricky second shot on hole 2

Holing out for a four on hole 6 - Evil Eye

Threes all round on the ninth hole meant that Karl had won with a round of 26. Arabella (and Sophia) placed second with a 28, while I won the bronze with a score of 29!

The Champ

The Fantasia Adventure Golf course on Sea Road in Felixstowe is well worth a visit and is a tricky little layout. A two is as good as an ace on many of the holes.

We're looking forward to returning once again. Perhaps the challenge series needs to be best-of-five games...

Related blog posts:
- Fantasia Adventure Golf
- Felixstowe
- Karl Moles

Fantasia Adventure Golf in Felixstowe

A look at the Fantasia Adventure Golf course on Sea Road in Felixstowe.

One of our most visited courses is the Fantasia Adventure Golf course on Sea Road in Felixstowe. We've been going to the seaside town for many many years and always swing by for a look, and more often than not a game on the 9-hole course.

Hole 1 of the course in May 2018

On our recent visit we noticed the felt and signage have recently been replaced and the layout was looking in very good condition. The weather was nice on our Bank Holiday weekend visit and on our return stroll along the prom in the early afternoon the course was proving very popular.

The last time we were there it was snowing!

You can see what it looked like before the new felt was laid in this blog post from 2016.

The course was the 7th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've now been to 821 courses!

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

Car park fireplace

It's not every day you pull into a hotel car park and find it's got its own fireplace. But that happened to us on our visit to Felixstowe last week!

An outdoor fireplace. Quite a novelty

It was a very cold day when we left the seaside town

The Premier Inn on Undercliffe Road West in Felixstowe was built on the site of the Ordnance Hotel - previously the seaside resort's oldest hotel.

A real fire would've been quite welcome

Related blog posts:
- Felixstowe
- Abandoned
- Derelict
- Car park
- Hotel

Adventure Golf on Sea Road in Felixstowe

One of our most visited minigolf courses is the Fantasia Adventure Golf course on Sea Road in Felixstowe. We never fail to swing by to look at the layout - even if it's out of season. It was definitely unplayable in the snowy weather conditions we faced in the seaside town yesterday.

A snowy Fantasia Adventure Golf in Felixstowe

Here's a blog post about the course from a better day in 2016.

The 9-hole course was the 7th we ever played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour way back in 2007!

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

98% gluten free

If something is 98% gluten free it's 100% useless to me.

What a peculiar percentage to opt for, I wonder who their target market is?

Sadly there are very few 100% gluten free places for Coeliac diners. Cross-contamination with gluten containing food means that even 99% gluten free places are a big risk for people with Coeliac Disease.

I've just noticed there's also a "98% GF" sticker on the door too

Thanks to Jo Tubby for the tip-off about the sign.

Disused railway stations - Felixstowe Beach in Suffolk

As a bit of a train nerd I recently joined the Disused Stations group on Facebook and last weekend found the perfect station location to take a photo of for the group while revisiting Felixstowe in Suffolk.

As we were driving over the level crossing on our way to the seafront we remembered there was an old platform to the left of us.

The disused Felixstowe Beach railway station on a sunny Sunday in May

Felixstowe Beach railway station taken closed to goods in 1966 and passengers in 1967. The station buildings were demolished in 2004.

Links:
- Disused Stations website
- Disused Stations Facebook Group

Harry Putter and the Magical Crazy Golf course

A visit to the Harry Putter and the Magical Crazy Golf course at Manning's Amusements in Felixstowe.

While visiting family and friends in Ipswich we made our traditional trip to the nearby seaside town of Felixstowe, and of course we had an obligatory game of Crazy Golf at Manning's Amusement arcade.

Manning's Art Deco amusement arcade in Felixstowe

The great thing about visiting Felixstowe is that you know you can pretty much always get a game at the indoor Adventure Golf course at Manning's amusement arcade on Sea Road.

Emily playing hole one. I don't think either of us have ever putted into the cup on the right of the rotating green

We've been playing the course since November 2006 and it was the 5th course we ever visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It was also the first indoor minigolf course we played.

Hole 2 never gets any easier to play! Although Emily got a very good 3 on the whole, while I score a 5

Since our first visit the course has had a few upgrades, mild refurbishments and name changes - it was called 'Golf FX' when we first played and was more recently known as 'Magical Golf' and 'Magical Golf FX'.

The indoor miniature golf course has a real mixture of themes. From jungle to medieval and even a 'space cave'!

The biggest surprise on our latest visit came when we saw the new scorecard as the course has morphed into a bootleg of Harry Potter!

Wow!

Check out the player names

Inside the course itself there have been a few improvements, with new felt on some of the holes. While two of the holes upstairs have been completely changed to look more like a library!

This isn't how the hole used to look

The hole used to have a rope border and some 'Disney' artwork on the walls

Emily playing in 2016

Emily playing the same hole in 2009

In our latest match-up on the 13-hole course I won with a score of 40 to Emily's 49.

We both noticed the 2000 BC stone for the first time on our walk downstairs!

The 11th hole is very tricky indeed

The 'lucky' 13th hole has undergone some changes too

It now offers two holes to putt into

Each with their own benefit / demerit

A view of hole one from the reception area

The course is still only £2 per player and it's a good fun layout to play. Check out the Manning's Amusements website for more info.

It's been £2 to play since we first had a round in 2006

The wizard's shelf

A nice touch

The rules

Related blog posts:
- Felixstowe
- Golf FX
- Magical Golf FX
- Manning's Amusements
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Link:
- Manning's Amusements

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The end of Felixstowe Pier...and the new one

Taking a look at the building of the new pier in Felixstowe.

Last weekend we visited the seaside town of Felixstowe in Suffolk. It's probably our most visited seaside as we take a trip there pretty much every time we go back to Ipswich to visit friends and family. On this occasion we had a look at the pier as it's undergoing a great deal of redevelopment!

How the pier looked in January 2015.

The pier entrance building in May 2011.

And in December 2011.

On our visit last year we walked UNDER the pier for the first time and saw this ominous message!

The new pier is scheduled to reopen in August 2017. It'll be interesting to see how it differs to the old one.

Check out our other blog posts about Felixstowe.