Crazy Golf at York Golf Range

Playing the Crazy Golf course at York Golf Range.

On Sunday 3rd September we visited York Golf Range in Towthorpe near Strensall to play the Crazy Golf course there. The 11-hole layout became the 452nd we've played and 764th visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.

Playing hole 5

Emily on hole 2

Playing hole 6

In our match-up on the Adventure Crazy Golf course Emily picked up the win with a score of 40 to my round of 42.

You get a nice scorecard to mark your round

The Rules

 

Hole 1

Hole 2

Hole 3

Hole 3

 

Hole 4

An interesting rule. Neither of us made it through the windmill

Hole 5

Hole 6

Hole 6

Hole 7

Hole 8

Hole 9

Hole 10

Hole 11

The obstacle on hole 11 is nigh on impossible to complete!

Visit the York Golf Range website for more information, opening times and prices.

The course is called Adventure Crazy Golf - a new synonym for us!

Emily on hole 4

As well as the Crazy Golf there's also a Driving Range, 9-hole Golf course and a good looking Footgolf layout.

The Footgolf course at York Golf Centre was a lot shorter than other layouts I've seen. It looked good, like a Footgolf 'Putting' course

Link:
- York Golf Range

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

York Art Gallery to host Leisure Land Golf this summer

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf travels to York Art Gallery.

York Art Gallery will be hosting Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf this summer, with the Crazy Golf course open from the 3rd June to 3rd September. The miniature golf layout consists of holes and obstacles created by different artists from the contemporary art world.

Our friends and minigolf rivals Gareth and Lhurlyn Holmes were lucky enough to play Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course at the Venice Biennale in 2015, while I got to have a game on the course in a visit to the New Art Exhange in Nottingham with another friend and rival Jam Trubridge last summer. The art-installation Crazy Golf course became the 401st played and 682nd visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Alongside more traditional collections, York Art Gallery endeavours to bring a variety of artworks to the gallery including contemporary pieces by cutting-edge artists.

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf will be open to the public from the 3rd June to the 3rd September 2017 in the Artists Garden. Created during York Art Gallery’s recent refurbishment, the Artists Garden is a free public space used to display a changing series of art installations, offering a place of reflection and inspiration in the heart of the city centre.

York Art Gallery recently ran an Art Happens campaign to bring the course to the city. Entry to the Artists Garden is free. For a small fee, or for those donors who selected one of the higher rewards in the Art Happens campaign, visitors can play a round of crazy golf during garden open times.

We're looking forward to playing the course in its new location this summer. Emily and I love visiting York and Yorkshire. Now we live up north we're hoping to visit the area even more in the coming weeks, months and years.

Check out the York Art Gallery website for more information on Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf.

The National Railway Museum in York

Visiting the National Railway Museum on our travels.

Last year we had a wonderful weekend in York. We love spending time Yorkshire and have visited a number of minigolf courses in the county during the last nine years of our tour around the UK.

The National Railway Museum is a real hands-on place to visit

On this occasion we were in the fine city to attend the International Postcard Expo at the racecourse. But a visit York isn't complete unless you also take a look around the National Railway Museum.

See what I mean!

It's a tremendous facility that is a must visit.

In amongst the million-plus objects and exhibits at the National Railway Museum

Driving

Hanging out on a faux InterCity 125

The 'Midland Express'

We spent a few hours wandering around the various exhibits - there are over a million of them there! There's so much to see the museum warrants more than one visit and we can't wait to return.

I was tuckered out as there was so much to see I had to have a nap on a bullet train

While on our travels we always enjoy popping into museums for a look around. Some other great museums we've been to are in Abingdon, Ipswich, Stevenage, Newbury, High Wycombe, Buckingham and Canvey Island.

Abingdon's County Hall museum is the venue for the curious tradition of bun throwing

As a keen collector of ephemera, researcher of social history and a miniature golf historian I'm a curator of the Crazy Golf Museum. A marvellous place full of memories, memorabilia and merchandise from the world of minigolf.

Links:
- The National Railway Museum
- The Crazy Golf Museum

Related blog posts:
- Museum
- York
- Yorkshire
- The Crazy Golf Museum
- Funicular Railway
- Miniature Railway
- Train

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Mr Scratchings pork crackling

Finding some more gluten free pork crackling.

Mr Scratchings Hot & Fiery Pork Crackling are gluten free

I enjoy snacking (especially when having a tipple), but finding suitable nibbles can often be a problem. That's why I was very pleased to find that Mr Scratchings Hot & Fiery Pork Crackling are gluten free. I found them on sale for 85p a bag in Trembling Madness in York.

Gluten free pork crackling from Mr Scratchings

They are quite hot & fiery

Trembling Madness also has a section of gluten free beers. I bought a couple.

Related blog posts:
- Pork Crackling
- Pork Scratchings
- Gluten free beer
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac

Links:
- Mr Scratchings
- Trembling Madness
- Coeliac UK

A Putt-Putt Postcard from South Africa

We recently visited York and attended the International Postcard Expo held at the racecourse to see what miniature golf postcards we could find. We found a bumper crop.

We picked up 31 minigolf postcards for our collection at the York CardExpo

The very first postcard we bought at the fair was from Brian Lund of Reflections of a Bygone Age who had saved a great old Putt-Putt card from South Africa for me.

The reverse of the card is stamped from 'Putt-Putt Southdale', a suburb of Johannesburg, and doubles as a FREE game card!

Putt-Putt is the only patented game of miniature golf and began in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1954. In the 1960's Putt-Putt franchises began opening outside of the US, in locations such as the one on the postcard, as well as Australia and Japan. You can read the Putt-Putt story on the Putt-Putt Fun Centres website.

Update 22/04/15: My expert minigolf contact in South Africa PJ Goedhals has been doing some research on the location of the Putt-Putt course shown on the postcard and he tells me that course is not in Johannesburg as I had thought based on the words 'Putt-Putt Southdale' stamped on the reverse.

The location on the front of the card is actually the Putt-Putt miniature golf course at Three Anchor Bay in Moullie Point/Sea Point in Cape Town - PJ's local course! Great to hear that it's still standing. I can't find a website for the course, but it has got a Google+ page.

Looking at the card again it makes sense that one standard postcard/advertising card was produced for marketing purposes and then distributed to all of the Putt-Putt courses in South Africa. So the Southdale location stamped on the reverse of the card is in Johannesburg, but the image is of the course in Cape Town. Many thanks to PJ and his Putt-Putt contacts for the info.

There are currently Putt-Putt courses in a number of US states as well as a competition circuit operated by the Professional Putters Association.

The PPA website has an archive of Putt-Putt World Magazine - a great resource and an interesting read indeed.

Check out MiniatureGolfer.com for details of minigolf courses in South Africa.

Links:
- York International Postcard Expo
- Reflections of a Bygone Age
- Picture Postcard Monthly Magazine
- Putt-Putt Fun Centres
- Professional Putters Association

Related blog posts:
- Postcard
- Postcards

Gluten free at Filmore and Union in York

On our first evening in York we headed to Filmore & Union on Petergate. Ahead of our trip we'd searched for gluten free places that were suitable for Coeliacs and Filmore & Union was highly recommended.

We had a starter and a main and very good they were too. I had the seared pigeon breast with watercress and bean sprout salad, followed by the sesame and sumac trout fillet with roasted red peppers.

The menu is nice and clear and states the allergens. Filmore & Union have also received Coeliac UK Accreditation which is good to hear.

Our waiter and chef were confident in their answers about the gluten free options available, understood needs of Coeliac diners and explained the procedures to reduce cross-contamination. All plus points.

Unfortunately we were so hungry on this occasion that no photos exist of our meal there!

As well as dining in there are also takeaway options for lunch including a gluten free wrap and Brown Bag crisps.

I noticed that they also sold Daas gluten free beers which I think is always a nice touch. It's great to have the option of a GF beer with a meal, rather than always having to opt for soft drinks, cider or wine.

Check out the Filmore & Union website for more information, menus, restaurant locations and details of their offerings for special dietary requirements.

Links:
- Filmore and Union
- Filmore and Union York
- Brown Bag Crisps
- Coeliac UK

Related blog posts:

- Gluten free

- Coeliac
- Gluten free beer

Gluten free at El Piano restaurant in York

A brilliant gluten free and vegan meal at El Piano in York.

While visiting the wonderful city of York I found that I was spoiled for choice when it came to options of where to eat. So many restaurants and takeaways had gluten free options, or stated they could cater for special dietary requirements.

Having so many choices and so little time (and capacity) to eat at all of them on this trip was a nice problem to have. While walking around the city centre on our arrival on the Thursday we'd spotted the El Piano restaurant and the brightly coloured menu outside. It clearly stated that they offered food that is vegan, has no gluten, is nut-free, and without palm-oil. The menu served 'all plant based dishes with no gluten-containing ingredients'.

The brilliant menu at El Piano

The menu also clearly stated that dishes containing soya, coconut, sesame or mustard (4 of the official 14 allergens) were shown in BOLD red text.

We decided that we would definitely dine there on our stay and so after a long day of shopping, postcard hunting, playing Bar Billiards and walking we headed there for dinner on the Friday evening. And I am so glad we did.

It was one of the best meals I've had. There was so much to choose from and we had great service from the friendly and knowledgeable staff. The restaurant looked great and it was so pleasing to see the other diners excited to be eating there too.

We spent a while looking over the menu and there was a lot to choose from. I quite fancied having Bob's Best Burger, but then Emily and I both decided to go for the interesting main courses where you got to 'build your own plate'.

My main course

The options offered gave an around-the-world flavour. You chose a principal dish, added fritters and then a cold salad. There were also Greens gluten free beers available on the drinks menu. Always a nice touch for gluten free diners to be able to choose a beer with a meal.

A very happy Coeliac diner indeed

I went for the Chow Mein, with Pineapple Croquetas (fresh pineapple with a hint of madras) and the Big E Salsa. Emily went for the Mexi Trio, Pestolitos and Hummus. I also treated myself to a side order of Mathematical Chips (square root veg chips) with El Piano ketchup.

Emily's Mexican main course

We couldn't leave without having a dessert. I had a lovely sticky toffee pudding, while Emily had a chocolate mousse pie that she couldn't finish. Unfortunately I had to scoff the last of it.

All of the food was amazing. With so many different flavours and new things to try it was brilliant for us to be able to taste off of each others plates with no fear of cross-contamination. This was the first meal out we'd had since my diagnosis with Coeliac Disease where we weren't scared, or unable, to do this and it felt pretty much 'normal'.

The restaurant is now in its 18th year and long may it continue.

I can't wait to go back to York and we'll definitely be eating at El Piano again.

Visit the El Piano website for more information and menus.

Link:
- El Piano website

Related blog posts:

- Gluten free

- Coeliac
- Gluten free beer

M&S gluten free Rice Porridge

Trying the new Made Without Wheat Rice Porridge from Marks and Spencer.

While Spring and Summer may not be the seasons for warming breakfasts, after spotting a new gluten and wheat free product in the York city centre branch of M&S I had to give it a try.

The boxes contain eight sachets of the gluten free porridge (made of brown rice flakes and ground maize porridge)

I had a bowl, made using milk, for breakfast and it tasted great. It filled me up until lunchtime too. This is a glowing endorsement as I have never been one for breakfasts (although this is probably something to do with 27 years of undiagnosed Coeliac Disease and feeling immediately ill after eating breakfast).

I like the fact the box contains individual sachets of porridge. And even though it contains no oats at all, it tastes like porridge. I'll be buying it again.

Links:
- Marks & Spencer website
- Marks & Spencer Made Without Wheat page
- Link to a product list of M&S products that DO NOT contain GLUTEN
- Coeliac UK website

Related blog posts:

- Gluten free

- Coeliac
- M&S
- Cereal
- Breakfast

Bar Billiards in York

Playing Bar Billiards at The Golden Ball pub in York.

On our walk back to the city centre following the York International Postcard Show at the racecourse we stopped off for a Gin & Tonic and a game of Bar Billiards at The Golden Ball pub.

Emily playing the Bar Billiards table at The Golden Ball pub in York

In action and en route to a win

In our match-up I scored 1,980 to Emily's 0 after she wiped-out a score of 770

Along with The Phoenix, The Golden Ball set-up the York Bar Billiards league in 2013. For more information, teams and fixtures check out the York Bar Billiards website. The Golden Ball pub website also has a Bar Billiards section on it. It's brilliant to see the pub game thriving in the city. We're looking forward to returning and checking out the tables at the other pubs.

The York Bar Billiards League Fixture list. Check out the league's website and Facebook page for information on the coming season

On a postcard-related note, The Golden Ball has its own postcard available to purchase at the bar.

Links:
- York Bar Billiards
- The Golden Ball
- Bar Billiards Forum
- The All England Bar Billiards Association (AEBBA)

Related blog posts:
- Bar Billiards
- Pub games