Junkyard Golf in Oxford

A visit to Junkyard Golf in Oxford.

On Friday 9th November we swung by Junkyard Golf in my home city of Oxford.

Junkyard Golf Oxford is home to three 9-hole indoor Crazy Golf courses - 'Gary' is a scrapyard challenge, 'Bozo' is a circus-themed course and 'Pablo' is jungle-themed.

Junkyard Golf began in my new home city of Manchester and there are now also Junkyard Golf courses in London and Leeds.

You can find Junkyard Golf Oxford in the Westgate Social Street Food section of the Westgate shopping centre.

Check out the Junkyard Golf website for more details, opening times and prices.

Related blog posts:
- Junkyard Golf
- Oxford

Junkyard Crazy Golf in Oxford

New Junkyard Crazy Golf course opening in Oxford.

I've heard that the team at Junkyard Golf Club are opening a new course in Oxford later this year.

Junkyard Golf Club's brand of Crazy Golf isn't run of the mill

It's a smart move as Oxford has been crying out for a minigolf course for years. While there are three minigolf layouts in the city these are in parks on the outskirts, rather than in the city centre.

Growing up in nearby Abingdon I was sad to hear that the town's only Crazy Golf course was recently removed to make way for a new play area. At least people in the town can soon head over to Oxford for a game.

Part of the glow-in-the-dark section of the Junkyard Crazy Golf course in Manchester

Junkyard Golf Club currently has two locations - Manchester and London - with the Manchester course soon to be moving to a new permanent space at First Street after two successful spells as a pop-up at the Great Northern Warehouse and in Piccadilly. The London venue has three courses at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane.

The two 9-hole Junkyard Crazy Golf Club courses in Manchester's Piccadilly Place were the 718th and 719th courses visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour last November and in January this year they became the 421st and 422nd played.

Visit the Junkyard Golf Club website for more info.

Dogs take over Crazy Golf course in Oxford

Well, over the years we've heard a lot of crazy things in the world of minigolf, but this story in the Oxford Times certainly takes the (dog) biscuit!

Check out the online petition for more details of the plan to turn the old miniature golf course into a dog play area.

The course is of the Swedish Felt B-run variety

The Florence Park Crazy Golf course in Oxford was the 119th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour when we swung into my home city back in August 2009.

On our travels we've seen dogs, cats and chickens on minigolf courses. But never a course purpose built for animals. It's a fascinating idea for an underused course.

Thinking about it, it'd be interesting to see a painting of dogs playing minigolf similar to those poker ones...

Related blog posts:
- Doggone Minigolf!
- Minigolf in Oxford, in December
- Minigolf Course Visits 118, 119 & 120 - Oxford Parks
- Oxford
- Dog

Gluten free at 2 Oxford Place in Leeds

Dining out at 2 Oxford Place in Leeds.

2 Oxford Place gets the double-thumbs up from me

Ever since I heard that a 100% gluten free restaurant was opening in Leeds I had been excited to visit. Luckily we got to eat there on Friday. It was certainly well worth the wait.

The kitchen at The Oxford Place is totally gluten free so I was able to dine without fear of cross-contamination. And even better, I was able to order without having to explain I have Coeliac Disease. I haven't done that for well over six months and it's certainly not a regular occurrence!

Delicious food, great drinks, excellent service, 100% gluten free - 2 Oxford Place is brilliant

We'd arrived in Leeds on Thursday but unfortunately found ourselves at 2 Oxford Place between the afternoon and evening opening times.

With my hunger built and a great looking menu I really wanted to treat myself, so when we returned on Friday we went all out, and ordered a grilled cheese sandwich to start. I then had a huge portion of haddock, chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce for my main course.

One of my favourite meals. And something I don't get to eat all that often

Even though we were quite full of delicious food and drink (we opted for Prossecco, wine and cocktails - although there are gluten free beers available) we had to treat ourselves to dessert. And what a dessert it was!

Look at that Assiette!

The last time we'd had a meal out together in a 100% gluten free restaurant was at The Galley in Plymouth in June last year. On that occasion we were blown away by the dessert. And the dessert we were served at 2 Oxford Place over six months later amazed us again. The Assiette of Puddings to share at 2 Oxford Place included crème brulee, chocolate brownie, cake truffles, and mini pavlovas.

We're still eating some of the dessert after having had to take it away!

We really enjoyed the whole experience of eating at 2 Oxford Place. The food, service and venue are all brilliant and we would definitely eat there again.

Check out the The Oxford Place website for further details, menus and opening times.

Links:
- The Oxford Place website

Related blog posts:
- Gluten free
- Coeliac

Visiting Oxford #2

A quick stop-off at another Oxford in Northumberland!

On our Roadtrip to Scotland and back we were driving along the A1 just south of Berwick-upon-Tweed when we spotted a sign for 'Oxford'. As I was born in Oxford I had to head there to see what this particular version was like...

The road sign showing Oxford is a mere 1/2 mile away

At the 'Welcome to Oxford' sign

...there wasn't much to it. In fact on a crossroads of the B6525 there is The Oxford Farm Shop, Tea Room and Restaurant. Over the road from the shop is a field of sheep and that is all! Quite different to the other Oxford!

This is pretty much all of this 'Oxford' captured in one photo

This Oxford also contains two Brown Tourist Signs - one for 'The OXFORD Farm Shop and tearooms' and the other lets people know that they now stock Card and Scrapbook Making Essentials in the Farm Shop!

It's not the first time on our travels around the UK that we've found an A.N. Other version of a town/island/state/country! We've also been to The Isle of Wight (near Dunstable), Ireland (in Bedfordshire), Egypt (in Buckinghamshire), New England (in Essex) and Luton (in Kent).

Related Blog Posts:

- Not Ireland, Egypt, England or the Isle of Wight

- Minigolf and Crazy Golf on the Isle of Wight and a visit to Isle of Wight Lane in Bedfordshire

- 30 seconds in Ireland!

Link:

- Follow The Brown Signs

Minigolf Course Visits 118, 119 & 120 - Oxford Parks

On the journey to Wales for the epic leg of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour we stopped off to play the three Swedish Felt B Run courses in Oxford's Parks on the 13th August.

On our previous visit to Oxford in December the courses were all closed. However, this time they were all open.

Course visit #118 was to Bury Knowle Park in Headington.


Course visit #119 was to Florence Park in Cowley.




Course visit #120 was to Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park.

Over the three rounds and 27-holes I hit a total of 99(+42) to take the Oxford title, while Emily scored 103(+49).

Minigolf in Oxford, in December

On an icy cold and foggy Sunday in December what better way to spend your time than searching the historic City of Oxford for it's hidden Minigolf treasures.

Three of Oxford's parks are home to Minigolf courses, and all three are Swedish Felt courses!

The first park we visited was Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park, in the north of the city, where we found the first of the three 9-hole courses.





Stop two of the day was at Headington's Bury Knowle Park.





Our last stop of the afternoon, and with the fog creeping in, was at Florence Park where I managed to get these photos just before the park gates closed.





We're now looking forward to returning to Oxford in the summer to improve our scores on these very testing Swedish Felt courses.

Link:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour