Video: North Shore Crazy Golf course in Blackpool (20th May 2019)

A look at the derelict Crazy Golf course on Blackpool's North Shore.



There are plans to refurbish and reopen the course.

Watch this space!

Renovation of the North Shore Crazy Golf course in Blackpool

The old Crazy Golf course behind the Metropole Hotel in Blackpool is re-opening soon.

The North Shore Crazy Golf course last August

Blackpool Fulfilling Lives and Blackpool and Fylde Street Angels have come together on a new project to breathe life into the old North Shore Crazy Golf course in Blackpool.

The project will help homeless people in Blackpool by giving them a chance to work on the Crazy Golf course so it is playable and then staffing it for the upcoming summer season and beyond. It sounds like a brilliant plan to give people the opportunity to receive work experience, while also bringing a disused minigolf course back to life.

You can find out more about the project on the Blackpool Fulfilling Lives and Blackpool and Fylde Street Angels websites and social media channels.

We always enjoy visiting Blackpool and have wanted to play the North Shore Crazy Golf course since we first saw it back in 2009. We've been back a number of times since and it's always been so sad to see it closed. We're looking forward to playing the refurbished course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Even though we've never played the course we have collected a large number of old postcards showing the course over the years. Here are four of them.

Crazy Golf at Blackpool. B.1531. A Dennis Postcard. Postally used and sent from Oldham to Luton. Undated

Crazy Golf, North Shore, Blackpool. Bamforth Postcard. Postally unused, but the words 'Visited 14th April 1979' are on the reverse

Princess Parade, Blackpool PT18819. Publisher unknown. Posted 15 September 1970

Sending you lots of LUCK from Blackpool. Bamforth Postcard. Postally used 6 August 1986

Related blog posts:
- Blackpool
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- North Shore Crazy Golf in Blackpool in 2018
- North Shore Crazy Golf in Blackpool in 2016
- North Shore Crazy Golf in Blackpool in 2009

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

Crazy Golf at Hall Lane in Upminster

A look back at the Crazy Golf course at Hall Lane in Upminster.

My mate and minigolf rival Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd recently sent me over these pics of the Crazy Golf at Hall Lane in Upminster, Essex from his archive. They were taken a couple of years ago and before the 2017 refurbishment of the course.

Check out what the Hall Lane Crazy Golf course looks like now on the Upminster & Cranham Residents' Association website. Very smart and clean.

The course was never open on my previous visits back in 2010 and 2012 on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Crazy Golf at Valley Gardens in Harrogate

A look at the Crazy Golf course in Harrogate's Valley Gardens. 

Fellow minigolf golf enthusiasts Alex Hyman and Henri Myers recently sent over some snaps of the Crazy Golf course in Harrogate's Valley Gardens. It looks quite different to when Emily and I played the course back in 2014. Since that visit it's received a refurbishment by the team at UrbanCrazy.

Back in March 2014 the Crazy Golf course at Valley Gardens in Harrogate became the 328th played and 547th visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Here's a look at some of the holes as they were back then.

I got a hole-in-one on this hole

Links:
- Valley Gardens in Harrogate
- UrbanCrazy

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf at Valley Gardens in Harrogate
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

A 'tickable list' I won't be attempting to complete

Finding a new tickable list activity in Stockport.

On our way back from a visit to the Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery last week we had a wander and a look at some of the interesting architecture we have in the town. Crossing the road from Stopford House - itself a stark example of Brutalism, and the setting for the police station in Life on Mars - we had a look across the town's landscape from atop a wall in a car park on Piccadilly. It was only when we were walking down the stairs that we noticed this plaque.

Wow

Now, we do like a tickable list activity. Well, we'd have to considering we've visited more than 700 miniature golf courses in the last ten and a bit years after first seeing a list of 600 back in 2006. We're also part way through visiting all the parks and green spaces in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport after the Friends of Alexandra Park suggested it as a pleasant way to pass the time. We've been to ten out of the 33 listed so far, plus five that were not on the list. But to start finding all of these structures would be utter madness.

The plaque in place on the refurbed wall

I'm sure my fellow members of the Dull Men's Club will be intrigued to know there are - at least - 669 such structures in Stockport.

Another view of the retaining wall

I'm a fan of funny signs and I've seen some comedy plaques in the past so I had a look online to see if I could find a mention of any of the 669+ such structures. I indeed found a partial list. A list which showed the cost to refurbish the wall was £65,967.

Brutalist architecture at its finest

Related blog posts:
- Stockport
- Dull Men's Club