A video rental shop in 2025: Northgate Video & DVD in Bury St Edmunds

There's a video and DVD rental shop in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

While visiting family in Bury St Edmunds last year we spotted the sign for Northgate Video & DVD - a video rental shop!

We returned last week and were pleased to see the shop was still there.

Unfortunately the owner was on holiday until after we left so we didn't get a chance to have a browse and perhaps buy some ex-rentals.

We've spent the last few years documenting the last traces of Blockbuster Video stores here in the UK, and we've found some other video shop signage on our travels.

Northgate Video & DVD in Bury St Edmunds is one of only a handful of video rental shops still in business in the UK. Long may it continue!

MuseumWeek 2025

This week is MuseumWeek.

Since 2014 MuseumWeek has grown to include over 60,000 participants from 100+ countries. It has become the first virtual, worldwide cultural event across social media.

MuseumWeek is an annual offline and online event based on the mechanism 7 days, 7 topics, 7 hashtags.

Find out more on the MuseumWeek website.

The Crazy Golf Museum

As the Curator of the Crazy Golf Museum it's always nice to be able to support museum initiatives such as MuseumWeek.

The Crazy Golf Museum is the world's first virtual crazy golf museum - a worldwide archive of miniature golf memories, histories and ephemera.

Minigolf did you knows:

• The world's first miniature golf course was set-up at St Andrews, Scotland in 1867.
• James Barber opened the first minigolf course in the USA in 1916. The 'Lilliputian' miniature golf course was called 'Thistle Dhu' and located in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
• A Miniature Golf contest was part of the Olympic Games at the 1904 St Louis Games in the USA.
• Crazy Golf is 99 years old in 2025. The first course using the name 'Crazy Golf' opened on South Parade in Skegness, Lincolnshire, England in 1926.
• 1926 also saw the first artificial miniature golf course open in the USA. Garnet Carter opened the 'Tom Thumb' miniature golf course near Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• The first National Tom Thumb Golf Championship took place on the 23rd October 1930.
• The first Putt-Putt brand miniature golf course was set-up by Don Clayton in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA in 1954.
• The Crazy Golf Museum is 15 years old in 2025. The virtual online museum is a treasure trove and archive for all things related to minigolf, crazy golf, adventure golf, miniature golf, Putt Putt, and putting.
• There are approximately 1,370 miniature golf courses in the British Isles.
• Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour is 19 years old in 2025! In that time we've visited over 1,000 courses.
• There are several Guinness World Records for achievements in Minigolf, Miniature Golf, Crazy Golf, Adventure Golf, and Putt-Putt. The 2024 edition of the Guinness World Records book featured a whole page about minigolf and you can find details of the records on the Guinness World Records website.
• There are two 'miniature golf days' each year. 'National Miniature Golf Day' is always on the second Saturday in May. In 2025 the first was on Saturday 10th May. The other minigolf day, 'Miniature Golf Day', is always on the 21st September. In 2025 that will fall on a Sunday.

Visit the Crazy Golf Museum website and check out these Crazy Golf Museum-related blog posts for more info.

Happy National Cheese Day 2025

Today is National Cheese Day!

Did you know there's a minigolf obstacle called Käse? It can be found on Eternit Miniature Golf courses.

The Käse obstacle on the Kelsey Park Mini Golf course in Beckenham

The official name of the obstacle / lane is "Schrager kreis mit hindernis" (Oblique circle with obstacle). Sometimes the obstacle is "schrager kreis mit niere" (oblique circle with kidney).

Miniaturegolf / Miniaturgolf courses (also known as Eternit / Eternite) are a type of course made using a thin concrete material. Courses consist of 18 holes made from a selection of 28 standardised designs.

An official Schrager kreis mit hindernis - this was lane 15 at Tantogårdens Bangolf in Stockholm, Sweden

Checking in the Overview for Beginners to Miniaturgolf booklet, the Käse obstacle is "erstaunlicherweise eher im norden verbreitet" (surprisingly more common in the north of Germany).

We don't have too many Eternit Miniature Golf courses here in the UK and some of those that do exist have been modified over the years.

The Miniature Golf course at Cae Glas Park in Oswestry

We have played two Schrager kreis mit hindernis holes in the UK where the obstacle was Käse. One was at Cae Glas Park in Oswestry, Shropshire, the other was in Kelsey Park in Beckenham, Greater London.

The Miniature Golf course at Kelsey Park in Beckenham

My brother Christopher recently found this cheese obstacle on the 18-hole miniature golf course at Landal Het Vennenbos in the Netherlands.

Minigolf at Landal Het Vennenbos in the Netherlands

Boom: Battle Bar opening in Reading, Berkshire

The latest Boom: Battle Bar is opening in Reading, Berkshire this week.

The doors to the newest Boom: Battle Bar open on Friday 6th June, with the Boom: Battle Bar Reading venue opening on Station Road.

We played Crazier Golf at Boom: Battle Bar in Ipswich earlier this week - it'll be interesting to see if the new Boom: Battle Bar in Reading has crazy golf too

Check out the Boom: Battle Bar website for more information on the new Reading venue.

International Axe Throwing Day - 13th June

International Axe Throwing Day aka World Axe Throwing Day is observed annually on the 13th June.

This year International Axe Throwing Day is on Friday the 13th of June! How apt!

Axe Throwing at The No Work Club in Lincoln

Last summer we met our friends Laura and Martin in Lincoln and booked in to do some Axe Throwing for the first time. That was at The No Work Club. The venue also has an indoor Crazy Golf course.

An Axe Throwing-themed Crazy Golf hole at The No Work Club in Lincoln 

You can often find minigolf and axe throwing at the same location. As competitive socialising venues have boomed in popularity new places are opening and offering a range of games and activities.

Emily lining up a throw in Lincoln

Bullseye!

There's axe throwing and an outdoor adventure golf course at the Go Wild centre in Haverhill, Suffolk. I swung by there last year too.

I've also had a go at an Axe Throwing arcade game!

An Axe Master axe throwing arcade game in Southend-on-Sea

Playing an axe throwing arcade game in Southend-on-Sea

An axe throwing arcade game at King Pins in the Manchester Arndale centre - the venue also has a Crazy Golf course

International Axe Throwing Day was established by the World Axe Throwing League (WATL).

Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza are next door neighbours in Bury St Edmunds

I can't recall seeing these fierce rivals as neighbours before!

Not a sight I've seen before!

That fence should probably be BETWEEN the two units!

Minigolf at Landal Holiday Park Het Vennenbos

A look at the minigolf course at the Landal Holiday Park Het Vennenbos in the Netherlands.

My brother Christopher, a charter member of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, and his family recently played the minigolf course at the Landal Holiday Park Het Vennenbos in the Netherlands.

The scorecard (Midgetgolfkaart)

The 18-hole course is of the 'eternit' miniature golf variety.

Check out the Landal Holiday Park website for more information.

The course at Landal Holiday Park Het Vennenbos was the 1,131st course visited overall on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The course is described as 'Midgetgolf', this is a name minigolf has been commonly referred to as in the Netherlands since the 1930s.

New Adventure Golf at Prairie Sports Village in Burnley

There are plans to create a dinosaur and volcano-themed Adventure Golf course at Prairie Sports Village in Burnley, Lancashire.

The new 18-hole outdoor adventure golf layout will replace the current 9-hole mini golf course and putting course.

Visit the Prairie Sports Village website for more information.

It'll be a new course for us to check out on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Mini-Golf at Halwyn in Cornwall

A new Mini-Golf course is opening in Crantock, Cornwall.

There will be a new mini-golf course opening as part of the new Halwyn feasting barns, driving range and mini-golf venue in Crantock, Cornwall.

The venue is planned to open this month.

Check out the Halwyn website for more information.

It'll be another new course for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

This time ten years ago we were part-way through our mammoth minigolf road-trip around the south west coast - we can't believe it's been that long since we were there! It's also crazy to think we went to 62 courses during that two-week trip!

House of Holes Crazy Golf in Derby has closed

The indoor House of Holes Crazy Golf venue in Derby has closed down.

Unfortunately we never made it back to Derby on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since the course opened so were unable to add it to our played list.

We have got this flyer for the House of Holes Crazy Golf course in Derby that we found at Hartshead Moor Services

Did you ever play at the House of Holes?

Grafham Water Mini Golf in Cambridgeshire

The Grafham Water Centre in Cambridgeshire has a Mini Golf course.

There's a 12-hole outdoor minigolf course at the Grafham Water reservoir in Cambridgeshire.

Check out the Grafham Water website for more information.

It'll be a new course for us to check out on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

World Crazy Golf Championships 2025 in Hastings

The 2025 World Crazy Golf Championships will be held in Hastings, East Sussex from the 6th to the 8th June.

The major miniature golf tournament returns for its 22nd edition this weekend.

You can find out all the details on the Hastings Adventure Golf website.

Richard Gottfried playing in the World Crazy Golf Championships

We both made our debuts in the 2007 edition of the event back when it was known as the Virgin Money World Crazy Golf Championships. It was Emily's first ever miniature golf tournament.

Emily Gottfried playing in the World Crazy Golf Championships

The World Crazy Golf Championships began in 2003 and has been held at Hastings Adventure Golf every year, except 2020 when the event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic). The current champion is Marc 'The Force' Chapman who is enjoying his fourth reign as world champion.

The competition is played on the 18-hole Crazy Golf course at Hastings Seafront. The layout is of the Arnold Palmer Putting Course variety. The course was the 39th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in October 2007.