Gluten Free in Plymouth

On our recent holiday in the South West of England we had a very nice time in Plymouth - especially as we were able to have a three-course meal together!

Ahead of our trip Emily and I had researched potential places to eat because dining out as a Coeliac can be a bl**dy nightmare. Thankfully we'd found at least two 100% gluten free places in Plymouth. One of which we'd booked a table at for dinner. We weren't disappointed.

A happy Coeliac diner

The Galley is the restaurant part of the The Maritime Inn in The Barbican area of Plymouth and the food there is brilliant.

The Crab Cakes were delicious

  

The meal was finished off with the Homemade Profiterole - it was MASSIVE!

Check out the menu online - all of the food is freshly prepared and there is NO gluten in the food or kitchen. This meant I was able to try some of Emily's meal too. The BBQ Chicken Wings were great.

The Galley gluten free restaurant in Plymouth gets the thumbs up from me

You can find The Galley at The Maritime Inn, 19 Southside Street, Barbican, Plymouth, PL1 2LD. The restaurant is open Tuesday to Sunday. Visit The Galley website for more information. The pub had a nice and friendly atmosphere and we enjoyed a few Gin & Tonics there after the meal.

We'd heard about The Galley from my fellow Coeliac Blogger Kevin Gollop's blog - Gluten Free by the Sea - the site is well worth a read and really good if you're heading down that way.

Earlier in the day I'd treated myself to a Chicken Pie and a Rocky Road Bar from The Ladybird Bakery in the Market. Another top tip from Kevin. I was well and truly stuffed by the end of the day - in a good way, which makes a change.

And elsewhere in the South West...

While we were away for a two week break I only managed to have nine hot meals. That's including breakfasts in the hotels and B&Bs we'd booked where breakfast was included (on these occasions I ordered the 'safe' option of boiled eggs - and even then my order was only right twice!?).

Other meals out included a very nice dinner at The Black Swan Inn in Swanage, a tasty late lunch in The Cobb Arms in Lyme Regis, takeaway fish & chips at Rockfish in Torquay and Brown's in Perranporth (and a horrific and eye-opening experience of how NOT to serve gluten free fish & chips in Dawlish - I didn't eat what I was served), and a meal out in Torquay (where I got glutened).

I did manage to find some gluten free pasties by Baked to Taste - in Dorset and Devon, but not in Cornwall!

There were some other places we noticed on the trip that had 'gluten free' options. But these were not safe for Coeliacs due to cross-contamination.

So it's absolutely marvellous when we find places that are really serious about serving safe (and tasty) gluten free food to people on strict and lifelong gluten free diets because of Coeliac Disease.

Links:
- Gluten Free by the Sea
- The Galley
- The Ladybird Bakery
- Coeliac UK

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac

Stonehaven, Kincardineshire Official Holiday Guide

Finding an old Official Holiday Guide, including Mini Golf Putting, for the town of Stonehaven, Kincardineshire.

While on a day out in Bedford I noticed an Antiques and Collectors fair going on at St Paul's Church so popped in to see if I could find any minigolf postcards or ephemera.

I was in luck as I found an interesting old Official Guide for visitors to the seaside town of Stonehaven.

The Stonehaven Official Guide, designed and produced under the authority of the Town Council by Mearns Publications. Printed by Langstane Press, Aberdeen

Flicking through the guide I spotted a half page photo of the Putting and Bowling Greens on page 19.

Some of the entertainment and leisure facilities on offer to visitors to the town

On page 22 it states there were two putting courses in the town, and on page 35 the cost per round is given as 6d.

Stonehaven is on the north east coast of Scotland and lies 15 miles south of Aberdeen. Stonehaven is now a part of Aberdeenshire as Kincardinshire lost its administrative status in 1975. I couldn't find any other dates of publication of the old guide, but it is pre-decimal (before 1971). Very interesting to see the old phone numbers listed too - only four-digits long!

At a guess I would say the guide was produced in 1966. A recent event shown is the reopening of the old tolbooth by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1963. There is also an advert on the inside back cover for Milne's Soft Drinks and Cordials - they are endorsed by Andy Ross, the 1965 winner of the Suffolk Point to Point.

Looking online the current official website for the town is the Stonehaven Guide. You can still find a Putting course at the Stonehaven Recreation Grounds Club. Its existence was confirmed by George McGillivray of the Stonehaven Guide.

The old guide is great find, with some nice minigolf and seaside holiday history.

Over the years Emily and I have enjoyed some very nice trips to Scotland on our travels.

Links:
- Stonehaven Guide website
- Stonehaven Guide on Twitter
- Kincardineshire
- The Crazy Golf Museum

Related blog posts:
- Putting courses
- Putting greens
- Scotland

Sin Gluten

Receiving lots of gluten free products from sunny Spain.

Emily recently returned from a holiday to Logroño, Spain and brought me back a LOT of gluten free products!

Sin Gluten products from Spain

Living on a strict gluten free diet can get a bit boring, so we're always looking for new and interesting products to try. This haul was great.

The gluten free Palmeras con chocolate by airos are delicious and a real treat. I've never seen a gluten free product like them in the UK. Emily found these in a Carrefour

I'm a big fan of Cheetos and they are one of the first things I buy when I'm in the US. They used to sell Cheetos in the UK and I've found that the Jalapeno Cheese flavour ones are Gluten Free and available in some Tesco stores. I've surprised myself by not immediately scoffing these Cheetos Pelotazos! These snacks were from a sweet shops in Logroño

The Matutano Fritos XXL Sabor a la parrilla are 'Grilled Flavour'. Look at the low price too!

Risi make some fun looking crisps. I can't remember ever having Ketchup flavour gluten free crisps

More snack characters by Risi

I'm going to enjoy finding some gluten free hot dogs to go with these Hot Dog Rolls from Proceli

These dark chocolate biscuits from Bicentury look interesting - what grain is that on the box? 

While shopping in a Carrefour store Emily also saw a number of other gluten free products that she couldn't get as she'd run out of space in her luggage. It's great to know that if I ever travel to Spain there are lots of gluten free options.

Carrefour own brand 'No Gluten!' baguettes

Tiny little No Gluten! Croissants by Carrefour

Proceli also make gluten free Croissants

Carrefour's No Gluten! Magdalenas

Two types of gluten free bread at Carrefour

Gerblé sin/sans Gluten bread at Carrefour

Sin Gluten and Sin Lactosa Magdalenas by Mdalen Sin Gluten

Schär gluten free Grissini at Carrefour

Schär gluten free Crackers at Carrefour

Emily tells me that the gluten free products in Carrefour were all on a separate wall section in the centre of the store. None were next to any gluten-containing products and were all clearly labelled and priced.

For more information on Coeliac Disease in Spain please visit the Spanish Federation of Coeliac Associations (FACE) website.

Links:

- Cheetos

- Matutano

- Risi

- Proceli

- Airos

- Bicentury

- Carrefour

- Gerblé

- Mdalen

- Schär

- Federación de Asociaciones de Celíacos de España (FACE) / The Spanish Federation of Coeliac Associations (FACE)

- Coeliac UK

Related blog posts:

- Gluten Free

- Coeliac

Crazy Golf at Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park

Playing Crazy Golf on the course at Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park during the Holiday on the Buses Weekender 2014.

On the first evening of our stay at Pontin's Prestatyn Sands we went to have a look at the Crazy Golf course

After spending the morning of the 28 September playing for The Butler Cup at the Crazy Golf course just off the seafront in Prestatyn we headed back into the Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park to make good use of the facilities on our Holiday on the Buses weekender.

Seth, Brad and Emily outside the Castle Battlements of the Crazy Golf course

As well as going swimming (in the very same pool they filmed scenes for Holiday on the Buses) and recreating some of the action from the film by riding around the camp on the big bikes, we had ANOTHER game of Crazy Golf.

The 9-hole course on the park is free to play with a £5 deposit required.

The course was the 582nd visited and 348th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.

The layout is felt with wooden borders and some tricky obstacles and some incredibly tough second (and third) putts!

Set-out in a castle the course is well made and fits the space nicely.

In our five-player semi-pro contest on the course Brad Shepherd stormed to victory with a cracking round of 18(par)!

The Crazy Golf players at Pontin's Prestatyn Sands from l-r Peter Jones, Seth Thomas, Brad Shepherd, Richard Gottfried, Emily Gottfried

Seth Thomas was runner-up on 21(+3), with me third on 23(+5). Peter Jones and Emily tied in fourth-place on 27(+9).

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

The course sits next to what was once the boating lake that can also be seen in the film. That's now been turned into a Kart Track.

The view of the old boating lake from the Crazy Golf course

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Holiday on the Buses Weekender at Pontin's 2014
- 'The Butler Cup' On the Buses Crazy Golf Tournament
- Wales
- Prestatyn
- On The Buses

Link:
- Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park

'The Butler Cup' On The Buses Crazy Golf Tournament

Report from the Crazy Golf events at the Holiday on the Buses Weekender in Prestatyn.

Emily playing hole 6 at Prestatyn's Crazy Golf course

One of the events at the Holiday on the Buses weekender 2014 in Prestatyn was the second-edition of The Butler Cup Crazy Golf competition.

Richard playing the classic windmill hole

Held at the 18-hole Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course on Bastion Road, Central Beach in Prestatyn this year saw two events played amongst the On The Buses Fan Club members - The Butler Cup and the Holiday on the Buses 'Pro' Trophy.

Emily in action

The Holiday on the Buses Weekenders contested The Butler Cup which was won by Eric Huckle with a marvellous score of 41(+5), while the seasoned players - me, Emily, Brad Shepherd and Seth Thomas, along with Rhyl semi-pro player Peter Jones and course employee Roy Knox - competed for the Holiday on the Buses 'Pro' Trophy.

The Holiday on the Buses Weekender 2014 Crazy Golf Champions - Emily Gottfried and Eric Huckle

The pro title was won by Emily with a score of 35(-1). Emily had tied with Peter Jones and Roy Knox after the round and was awarded the Pro title as the holidaymaker of the trio. Brad was fourth with a score of 39(+3), Seth was fifth on 40(+4) and I was sixth with 43(+7).

Peter Jones in action on his home turf

Brad playing the Prestatyn Crazy Golf course

Seth playing a shot on hole 9

Richard on hole 8

Emily playing a shot on hole 4

Emily receives the Holiday on the Buses 2014 trophy from course owner Christine

The semi-pro minigolfers, from l-r Peter Jones, Richard Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, Brad Shepherd, Seth Thomas, Roy Knox

Rhyl competitor Peter 'The Crazy Aced Assassin' Jones playing hole 1 as the crowd looks on

The On The Buses Fan Club is free to join. You can sign up with your email address on the website.

Having a ball! The Holiday on the Buses Weekender Crazy Golfers in Prestatyn

The Holiday on the Buses Weekender was a great fan event that saw us spend time at the Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park which was the location for the film, as well as attend a screening of the film and go on some mystery tours of the film's locations.

Related blog posts:
- On The Buses
- Holiday on the Buses Weekender at Pontin's 2014
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Wales
- Prestatyn
- Revisit and Replay of the Windmill Theatre Indoor Adventure Golf Course in Great Yarmouth

Links:
- On The Buses Fan Club
- Pontin's Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park