A postcard from Butlin's Pwllheli

A look at The Putting Greens and Lawns at Butlin's Pwllheli.

The recent Stockport postcard fair was a goldmine of old miniature golf postcards.

One of which was this card showing The Putting Greens and Lawns at Butlin's Pwllheli.

Butlin's Pwllheli The Putting Greens and Lawns. CT1306. Posted from the camp to Boston, Lincolnshire on the 1st June 1964

My family often went on holiday to Butlin's holiday camps in Minehead, Bognor Regis and Ayr - and I spent many summers in the 80's and 90's at the Barry Island Holiday Camp, which was formerly a Butlin's camp.

My brother Christopher foudnd this snap of us riding the monorail at Butlin's Minehead back in the early 90's while looking through some old family photos

I wrote an article about Butlin's postcards in the November 2016 issue of Picture Postcard Monthly magazine. That piece was to celebrate the 80th birthday of Butlin's.

Adventure Golf at Center Parcs Elveden Forest in Norfolk

A look at the Adventure Golf course at Center Parcs Elveden Forest in Thetford, Norfolk.

My brother Christopher, a founder member of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, and his family were recently on holiday at Center Parcs Elveden Forest in Norfolk and sent over these photos of the Adventure Golf course there.

The approach to the course on Treasure Island looks really good.

More photos of the course below.

A pirate lavvy?

Visit the Center Parcs Elveden Forest website for more information.

The last minigolf course Christopher visited was also in Norfolk.

The very first course we visited on our travels was the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course in Southsea.

The combined total of Crazy World of Minigolf Tour course visits is now at 973.

Related blog posts:
- Center Parcs
- Norfolk

Harcourt Sands derelict holiday camp in Ryde

A look at the abandoned Harcourt Sands holiday camp in Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

Back in October 2016 we visited the Isle of Wight and the first place we looked round was Ryde.

We're always looking for miniature golf courses and found the Pirate Adventure Golf course on the esplanade, the Mini Golf at Puckpool Park and a sign for a non-existent Pitch & Putt course at Appley Park.

While wandering back from Puckpool Park to the seafront we saw the remains of the derelict Harcourt Sands derelict holiday camp.

It's always a sad, but interesting, sight to see an abandoned holiday camp.

Harcourt Sands holiday camp closed its doors in 2006.

When the camp was open it was home to a Putting Green.

Greetings from Seacroft Holiday Club in Hemsby, Norfolk

Many thanks to our friend Steve from the On the Buses fan club who recently sent us this nice old postcard showing the Putting Green at the Seacroft Holiday Club in Hemsby, Norfolk. The card was posted in 1988 and is a very nice addition to our miniature golf postcard collection.

Greetings from Seacroft Holiday Club. Hemsby, Norfolk. By Fincom. Posted 1988

Looking online it appears that the Seacroft Holiday Club, also known as Seacroft Holiday Camp and Seacroft Holiday Village, was merged with its sister site Hemsby Beach Holiday Park in 2017. The current Richardson's holiday park is home to a Crazy Golf course.

We also have this nice postally used John Hinde card showing the Pontin's Seacroft Holiday Centre in our collection. It was posted on the 13th May 1985.

Pontin's Seacroft Holiday Centre, John Hinde (Dis.) Ltd. Postally used 13 May 1985

The latest issue of Picture Postcard Monthly magazine (July 2019) contains an article I wrote about Pontin's holiday camps.

We've enjoyed our trips to Hemsby on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Hemsby is home to one of my all-time favourite courses - the Lost World Adventure Golf. We're looking forward to a return visit in the future.

Greetings from Pontin's Holiday Village, Camber Sands

We found this nice old Pontin's postcard at a collector's fair in Stockport yesterday.

Greetings from Pontin's Holiday Village, Camber Sands. Photo Precision Limited. Posted on 14 July 1975

The July 2019 issue of Picture Postcard Monthly magazine contains an article I wrote about Pontins postcards.

The Crazy Golf course at Pontin's Camber Sands is where the playground and grass is in the top left image of the postcard above

My family stayed at Pontin's Camber Sands in the 1990's and we swung by the holiday camp to play the Adventure Golf there in 2014.

The course was the 585th visited and 351st played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Mini Golf at the Haven Wild Duck Holiday Park

A look at the Mini Golf course at Haven's Wild Duck Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

Many thanks to our friends Karl and Sophia Moles for sending over some snaps of the Mini Golf course they spotted while on holiday at Haven's Wild Duck Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

A view of the course

The rules

A train obstacle - the course was made by DK Fibreglass, I guess this obstacle dates from 1985

A look at the course

Karl and Sophia have been to quite a few different holiday camps with their children Fiorella and Arabella and have sent over minigolf snaps from trips to Haven's Caister-on-Sea Holiday Park, Pontins Pakefield, Allhallows Leisure Holiday Park, as well as the Crazy Golf course at Suffolk Leisure Park in Ipswich and Minigolf Sport Club Sanremo in Arma, Italy.

Links:
- Haven Wild Duck Holiday Park
- DK Fibreglass

Related blog posts:
- Haven
- Great Yarmouth
- Norfolk
- Holiday Camp
- Karl Moles
- Sophia Moles
- Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf at Haven's Caister-on-Sea Holiday Park
- Adventure Golf at Pontins Pakefield
- Mini Golf at Allhallows Leisure Holiday Park
- Crazy Golf at the Haven Golden Sands Caravan Holiday Park in Mablethorpe
- Haven's Thorpe Park Adventure Golf course in Cleethorpes

Mini Golf at the Resort Horizont & Splendid in Pula, Croatia

A look at a Mini Golf course in Pula, Croatia.

While we were exploring the minigolf courses in St Helens, Merseyside my brother Christopher was on holiday in Croatia. Staying on the Istria peninsula he managed to find a minigolf course at the Resort Horizont & Splendid in Pula!

Christopher has now been to 28 courses in nine overseas countries. Emily and I have visited 871 courses in the British Isles and 39 courses in eleven overseas countries for a total of 910 course visits. The combined total of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour is now up to 926 courses since September 2006.

More photos of the Mini Golf course in Pula, Croatia.

  

Pontins postcards in Picture Postcard Monthly

Check out the feature on Pontins postcards in the new issue of Picture Postcard Monthly.

The July 2019 issue of Picture Postcard Monthly magazine contains an article I wrote about Pontins postcards.

The new issue of Picture Postcard Monthly is out now

Over the years I've collected quite a few postcards showing Pontins holiday camps dating back to the 1960s.

Greetings from Pontin's at Pakefield, Suffolk, Photo Precision Limited. PLC13118. Postally used on 28 Aug 1969

The majority of the cards I have are from the 1970s and 1980s and a lot of them show miniature golf courses.

One of my prized minigolf possessions and something of a crazy golf postcard holy grail as the sender wrote about the course depicted on the card

You can buy Picture Postcard Monthly magazine via the PPM website, or at postcard fairs around the country.

I'm a big fan of the seaside, holiday camps and crazy golf and have collected a large number of postcards showing various locations. In recent years we've also been on holiday to Pontins Prestatyn Sands for On the Buses fan club events.

Pontin's Holiday Centre Prestatyn, Bamforth & Co. Ltd. WT948. Postally used, date unknown

Growing up, my family went on holidays to camps at Barry Island, Minehead, Bognor Regis and Camber Sands. The November 2016 issue of Picture Postcard Monthly includes a feature I wrote about Butlin's cards.

Links:
- Picture Postcard Monthly magazine
- Pontins

Related blog posts:
- Postcards
- Pontins

Monorails and Minigolf at Butlin's Minehead

A look back at the Monorails and Minigolf course at Butlin's Somerwest World holiday camp in Minehead.

My brother Christopher was recently looking through some old family photos and spotted this snap of us riding the monorail at Butlin's Minehead back in the early 90's.

Riding the Tango branded Monorail at Butlin's Minehead in the early 1990's

My family holidayed at the camp a number of times in the late 80's and early 90's and I've got brilliant memories of the monorail, funfair, laser tag and arcades there. It's little wonder that even now I'm such a big fan of the British seaside, monorails, crazy golf and video-games.

Emily and I also had one of our first holidays together at the camp in 2004 and we remember playing the Arnold Palmer Putting Course you can see in the postcard below. This card is from the time the camp was known as Butlin's Somerwest World from 1987 to 1999. Sadly we haven't got any photos of us from our pre-Crazy World of Minigolf Tour game on the course.

A Butlin's Holidays postcard of Somerwest World. Postally unused. Undated

While looking at the history of Butlin's for a feature in Picture Postcard Monthly to mark the 80th birthday of Butlin's in 2016 I found that the UK's first commercial monorail was opened at Butlin's Skegness in 1965! The Skegness holiday resort is the one remaining camp I haven't been to.

It's brilliant collecting old postcards of minigolf courses, monorails and holiday camps as they are superb pieces of social history, as well as bringing back some great memories.

Related blog posts:
- Butlin's
- Postcards

Link:
- Butlin's

Crazy Golf course at Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park

Revisiting the Crazy Golf course at Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park.

Last September we made our third visit to the Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park in Wales for a Holiday on the Buses Weekender. While on the camp we swung by the Crazy Golf course.

The course is housed within a fort

The ten-hole course was the 348th played and 582nd visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour when we first stayed at the camp in September 2014. We also visited in September 2017.

While you're staying at the camp the course is free to play

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf at Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Camp
- Crazy Golf at Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Holiday on the Buses
- Prestatyn
- Pontins

Link:
- Pontins Prestatyn Sands

Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide

A look at the Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide.

The Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide

As a big fan of the British seaside and traditional holiday entertainment I was pleased to find a Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide while sorting through some paperwork at home.

Seeing the Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide brought back so many happy memories.

My family used to go on holiday to Barry Island in the late 80's and 90's and loved it there. The holiday camp was absolutely marvellous, with everything from swimming to Crazy Golf, to snooker and darts, to the fun fair and more - all free of charge once you had checked in. My brother's and I would spend hours going from one activity to another and then spend the evening in the arcades playing games such as Blasteroids, Xybots, Double Dragon and Wardner. Halcyon days.

Check out the six-page Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide. As a former holidaymaker at the camp, fan of the British seaside, postcard collector and marketer it makes for interesting reading - especially some of the adverts!

What a cover

There was always so much to do at Barry Island

The entertainment continues

Back when you could still advertise cigarettes!

A great bit of marketing and use of a postcard image

I spent many an hour at building 5 - Princes Ballroom as that's where the Crazy Golf, snooker and arcade was 

Barry Island Resort was originally a Butlin's holiday camp in 1966 and was re-opened as a Majestic holiday camp in the 1980's. Sadly it closed for good in 1996 and was demolished to make way for housing.

I've returned to Barry Island - in 2009 and 2010. Apart from the disappearance of the holiday camp there were some new attractions, but the resort was still recognisable from the 90's. I'll have to return for another look as the last eight years since our last visit has flown by!

Barry Island in 2010

Outside the gates of the former holiday camp

Related blog posts:
- 45 minutes on Barry Island
- Minigolf Course Visit No. 121 - Barry Island / Ynys y Barri
- Barry Island
- Holiday Camp
- Postcards
- Butlin's

Crazy Golf at Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Camp

A revisit to the Crazy Golf course at Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park.

The ten-hole Crazy Golf course at Pontin's Prestatyn Sands holiday park

On our Holiday on the Buses at Pontin's Prestatyn Sands we revisited the 10-hole Crazy Golf course at the camp. It's had a lick of paint, some new felt and a change in some of the obstacles since we played the layout in 2014.

The castle / fort's walls are a lot more colourful than before

The course was the 348th played and 582nd visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Hole 1 

Hole 2 

Hole 3

Hole 4

Hole 6 

Hole 6

Hole 6 

Hole 6 

Hole 7

Hole 8

Hole 9 

Hole 10

Visit the Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park website for more information.

We've also played Crazy Golf at the Pontin's holiday park at Camber Sands. Our friends Sophia and Karl Moles recently guest blogged about the Adventure Golf course at Pontin's Pakefield holiday park.

Link:
- Pontin's Prestatyn Sands

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf at Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Holiday on the Buses
- Prestatyn
- Pontins