Fantasia Adventure Golf in Felixstowe

A visit to the Fantasia Adventure Golf on Sea Road in Felixstowe.

On a recent visit to the seaside resort of Felixstowe, Suffolk we had a stroll along the prom and of course had a look at the 9-hole Fantasia Adventure Golf course on Sea Road.

It was out of season so the course wasn't open

We've played the course a number of times over the years. It was the 7th course we ever played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour way back in November 2006!

The longest second putt in minigolf? I wonder how long the ball has been waiting to be holed out...

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

Gluten free at the Black Tiles Restaurant & Bar

A visit to the Black Tiles Restaurant & Bar in Woodbridge.

Over the years I have provided a number of gluten free food reviews to Travel Gluten Free and the site recently let me know they'd been contacted by the Black Tiles Restaurant & Bar to tell them about their gluten free menu.

We're always searching for new places to visit and often head back to Emily's home town of Ipswich, and Woodbridge is right next to it.

Last weekend we booked a table for a lunch and looked forward to giving the food a try.

There's a lot to choose from on the gluten free menu. I decided to go for one of my favourites, the Slow roast pork belly, bubble & squeak, apple sauce and crackling.

I noticed chips were also on the gluten free menu, and ever vigilant of potential cross-contamination risks, asked how they were cooked. Without hesitation the waitress let me know that they were cooked in a separate fryer to avoid cross-contamination. I ordered a portion as a treat as it's not often I get to eat chips in restaurants.

Gluten free lunch at the Black Tiles Restaurant & Bar in Martlesham, Woodbridge

After a filling meal I wasn't going to have a dessert, but as Emily and her sister Jo both ordered puddings I decided to have an Eton Mess too. And I'm glad I did.

The food and service was very good and the pub was nice. We'd return for another meal.

Check out the Black Tiles Restaurant & Bar website and the gluten free menu.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac

Links:
- Black Tiles Restaurant & Bar
- Travel Gluten Free

Coeliac Awareness Week 2015

This year Coeliac Awareness Week is 11 to 17 May.

Coeliac Awareness Week is taking place from 11 to 17 May. For more information check out the Coeliac UK website and the Awareness Week page over the coming months.

Last year I was Minigolfing gluten free in Margate during Coeliac Awareness Week.

Minigolfer, blogger and (unfortunately) a coeliac. Last year I was playing in a national minigolf tournament at Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate during Coeliac Awareness Week

Coeliac Disease is a lifelong autoimmune disease caused by intolerance to gluten and the only treatment is to adhere to a strict lifelong gluten free diet.

In the UK it's estimated that 1 in 100 people have the condition.

I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease in May 2008 and have been living on a strict, lifelong gluten free diet ever since

It's important to know and remember that Celiac/Coeliac is NOT an allergy, it's NOT a preference, it's NOT a fad, it's NOT a diet, it's NOT an intolerance, it's NOT a choice - it's an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE.

Check out the blog posts and links below for more information on Coeliac Disease and Gluten Free.

Related blog posts:
- Celiac Awareness Day 2014
- Coeliac UK Awareness Week 2014 and the Gluten-free guarantee
- Minigolfing gluten free in Margate
- What a Day, Week and Month! (2013)

- Awareness Week: Coeliac Facts from Udi's Gluten Free

- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac
- Read my Gluten Free Journey blog on the Udi's gluten free website

Links:
- Coeliac UK
- Coeliac Awareness Week 2015
- National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) / Celiac Central

Crazy Golf in Felixstowe

Revisiting the indoor minigolf course at Manning's Amusements in Felixstowe.

We played the indoor Adventure Golf course at Manning's on our last trip to Felixstowe in November 2014 and we always visit the arcade and course when in town.

On our most recent visit to Felixstowe we noticed the sign for Sands Diner has an arrow pointing out the 'Crazy Golf' at Mannings. There are two other minigolf signs at Mannings - one for 'Indoor Adventure Golf' and one for 'Magical Golf'

We were up and about nice and early on our Saturday morning seaside stroll and saw a sight we'd never seen before - the doors to the Golf-FX Magical Golf course were closed!

We didn't have time to play the course this time, but we'll be back again for a round on the tricky layout later this year.

Check out the links and blog posts below for more information on Manning's Amusements and photos of the course from our many visits over the years.

Links:
- Manning's Amusements website
- Manning's Amusements on Twitter
- Manning's Amusements on Facebook

Related blog posts:
- Felixstowe
- Indoor Crazy Golf in Felixstowe
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Indoor Mini, Crazy and Adventure Golf courses
- Indoor Adventure Golf at Mannings Amusements in Felixstowe

Crazy Golf in Broomfield Park, London

A revisit to the Adventure Golf course at Broomfield Park in Palmers Green.

Broomfield Park in Palmers Green, London has an 18-hole Adventure Golf course

On Saturday 17 January we were visiting my cousins in Enfield and popped to Palmers Green for lunch, which opened up the opportunity to have an unexpected look at the Adventure Golf course in Broomfield Park.

Unfortunately the course wasn't open as it was out-of-season

Broomfield Park's 18-hole Adventure Golf course in Palmers Green, London

We first visited Broomfield Park's minigolf course in May 2007, but didn't play it until April 2010.

A view of Broomfield Park's minigolf course in January 2015

The course was the 169th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Check out the blog post from our visit in 2010.

A view of the Adventure Golf course in London's Broomfield Park. There are some really long minigolf holes there!

You can find Broomfield Adventure Golf at Broomfield Park, Aldermans Hill, London N13 4RB. Check out the course website for opening times and prices.

Broomfield Park's Adventure Golf course is normally open at weekends and during school holidays. Weather permitting

The nearest tube stations to the miniature golf course at Broomfield Park are Arnos Grove, Southgate and Bounds Green. The course is only a short walk from Palmers Green Mainline station. It's not a million miles away from Winchmore Hill either.

To date we've visited 589 miniature golf courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and played 355 of them. In and around London we've visited 43 minigolf, crazy golf, adventure golf and grass putting courses, and played 26 of them.

On our visit we had a nice walk around the park. We didn't remember the park having so many ponds, many of which were frozen over on this occasion. It was funny seeing the seagulls slipping and sliding as they came in to land.

One of the frozen ponds at Broomfield Park

Link:
- Broomfield Adventure Golf

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - List and links for all Miniature Golf courses visited to date
- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London
- London (Broomfield Park) - Adventure Golf

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Amusement Arcading in Felixstowe and the one penny pence piece pusher

A potential venue and 'course' for a Tat Challenge tournament in the future.

While on a recent visit to the Suffolk seaside resort of Felixstowe we spotted a rare sight in one of the seafront's amusement arcades - a 1p pusher machine!

It's not often in this day and age that you see a one penny pusher in the arcade. They're normally 2p or 10p machines

Related blog posts:
- Amusement Arcades
- Tat Challenge
- Felixstowe

Dinner time - a gluten free mystery meal

When you're a Coeliac what do you have at dinner (or tea) time?

Udi's gluten free asked on Facebook "Is your evening meal Dinner or Tea where you are? And more importantly....what are you making?"

Well, here in Leagrave (the sunny part of Luton) we call it dinner. When Udi's asked I didn't have a clue what we'd be having, but Emily obliged with the answer "It's turkey meatballs with tomato and basil sauce. All gluten free. Obviously."

And it was very good indeed. Absolutely delicious.

The rustic gluten free turkey meatballs with tomato & basil sauce, served with Gallo gluten free spaghetti 

As someone with Coeliac Disease every day can be a struggle to eat and drink safely. It can also be pretty stressful and annoying, so it's brilliant that Emily cooks up some brilliant gluten & wheat free meals for us to enjoy.

Check out the Facebook thread that started the discussion and have a look at the blog posts and links below for more information on the range of gluten free food from Udi's. They do some really great products.

My current favourite breakfast/brunch/lunch/snack/pudding is an Udi's gluten free Chocolate Chip Bagel, toasted and topped with a sliced banana.

Related blog posts:
- New products from Udi's Gluten Free
- Udi’s Gluten Free – more than just mince pies
- Awareness Week: Coeliac Facts from Udi's Gluten Free
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Emily's cooking

Links:
- Udi's Gluten Free UK
- Udi's Gluten Free UK on Facebook
- Udi's Gluten Free UK on Twitter
- Riso Gallo
- Udi's Gluten Free USA
- Coeliac UK

UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2015

The date and venue for the 2015 edition of the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championship have been announced!

This year the popular sporting contest will be taking place on Saturday 21 November at the Green Man Pub in London.

Facing Neil 'Razor' Ruddock in a warm-up match at the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in 2012

For more information check out the Wacky Nation website and UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships Facebook page.

Emily and I have competed in a number of RPS contests organised by the team at Wacky Nation. Our best performance was in the International Rock Paper Scissors Team Championships in 2012 when, along with two team-mates from the USA, we represented San Marino and finished fourth!

The 'wildcard' team from San Marino at the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London. From l-r Richard Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, Sophie Barry, Dave Barry

Related blog posts:
- Rock Paper Scissors

Links:
- Wacky Nation
- UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships

Indoor Adventure Mini Golf in Swindon

Playing indoor minigolf at The Golfing Hole Adventure Golf course in Swindon.

At The Golfing Hole indoor Adventure Golf course in Swindon

On Sunday 11 January Emily and I visited Swindon, Wiltshire to play our first miniature golf course of the New Year. The location was The Golfing Hole Indoor Adventure Golf course on Mead Way.

Emily playing hole 2 - a big ramp that leads to a spiral

Putting into a machine

Emily putts into one of the factory's machines. This one was really tough

Putting from the back of the green

There's a BIG minigolf loop-di-loop on one of the holes

   

My favourite hole at The Golfing Hole. Though quite what a green 'grass' minigolf layout with sandy bunkers is doing inside a 'factory' I don't know. Very crazy golf! 

The course was the 589th visited and 355th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since 2006. In 2014 we visited 46 courses and played 28 of them.

Emily putts out after playing through a cabin/site office in The Golfing Hole factory

During our match we played through each of the obstacles, rather than taking the easier line and putting around the lumps and bumps of the greens. Some of the holes in the pipes were easier to get the ball into than others, with a few of them causing a lot of frustration. The result of our contest was a draw, with a score of 54 each.

At the first miniature golf course visited in 2015

We've played quite a few indoor mini, crazy and adventure golf courses over the years and always like to see Blacklight / UV minigolf holes. The Golfing Hole has two holes that tick this box.

Hole 13 leads into the blacklight area, while the tee-off point for hole 14 is inside

This hole was really difficult as the gap at the top of the ramp isn't much bigger than the golf ball

Playing out the UV hole

Emily tees-off inside the blacklight room

And putts out in the light of the factory

An 18-hole round of minigolf at The Golfing Hole Indoor Adventure Golf course cost us £7 each. Full price details and opening times can be found on The Golfing Hole Adventure Golf website.

In addition to the Adventure Golf course the indoor venue has a licensed bar, air hockey, pool tables and table football.

The course was built by City Golf, check out their website too.

Related blog posts:
- Indoor Mini, Crazy and Adventure Golf courses
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour overall list
- Mini Golf courses visited in 2014
- Previous blog comment about The Golfing Hole
- A little bit of indoor minigolf in Woking

Links:
- The Golfing Hole Adventure Golf website
- The Golfing Hole on Twitter
- The Golfing Hole on Facebook
- City Golf

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter. You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

National Puzzle Day on 29 January 2015

The National Day for Jigsaw Puzzles is on Thursday 29 January 2015!

Emily is a big fan of Wasgij puzzles, while I'm always on the lookout for Mini Golf jigsaw puzzles and we've found quite a few on our travels.

Last year a long quest was ended when we managed to find an elusive Jan Van Haasteren Mini-Golf jigsaw puzzle while on a day out in Derby!

Finding a Crazy Golf jigsaw puzzle at Poyntons in Derby Market

Some of the recent jigsaw puzzles we've bought are below.
  

A Gerold Como Collection 'Golf' jigsaw puzzle that contains a lot of crazy elements

A crazy golf jigsaw puzzle by Page One Design

A Ravensburger jigsaw puzzle that includes a crazy golf windmill on the golf course

The Golf edition of the 'World's Most Difficult Jigsaw Puzzle'

'The Golf Course' jigsaw puzzle by Jumbo and Jan Van Haasteren

Back in March 2012 we visited Abbots Langley, Herts to attend Jigfest 2012 and we were quite tempted to enter the doubles competition at last year's British Jigsaw Puzzle Championship.

Emily at Jigfest 2012

The team at Putterfingers put(t) together a great puzzle related blog post in 2013, you can read it at "5 Reasons a Crazy Golf Puzzle is Great Fun!"

While not exactly to do with jigsaws, but puzzle-related, our friend and fellow minigolfer Paul Godding runs the 7puzzle company that develops maths-related boardgames, card games and puzzles.

The latest addition to our collection of wacky golf puzzles. A 1500 piece Jan Van Haasteren / Jumbo

The completed Jan Van Haasteren Golf jigsaw puzzle 

Check out the links below for more jigsaw puzzle-related blog posts and websites.

Related blog posts:
- Jigsaw Puzzles
- Finding the Jan Van Haasteren Crazy Golf Jumbo Jigsaw Puzzle in Derby
- The British Jigsaw Puzzle Championship 2014
- Jigfest 2012!

Links:
- The Official UK Puzzle Club
- Jumbo Jigsaw Puzzles (makers of Wasgij, Jan Van Haasteren's and more)
- Ravensburger Puzzles
- The Yorkshire Jigsaw Store
- British Jigsaw Championship
- #NationalPuzzleDay

A lot of gluten free surprises at Lidl

Stocking up on some new gluten free products from Kelkin at Lidl.

A happy Coeliac shopping for gluten free food in Lidl

A recent tweet by the Gluten Free Guerrillas alerted me to some upcoming special offers at Lidl and I was hoping that my local Lidl supermarket in Leagrave, Luton would have them in stock.

I needn't have worried - there were a LOT of great products on offer!

A great range of Kelkin gluten free products in the Leagrave branch of Lidl

As someone with Coeliac Disease it's brilliant to find new and different food to add to my strict gluten free diet, so thank you to the team at Lidl and Kelkin for stocking so many interesting products. Apart from the Porridge Oats and Muesli (as I'm a Coeliac that cannot tolerate oats for medical reasons) and Rice Cakes (I'm someone who can't tolerate them for taste reasons) we bought at least one of each of the products on offer.

What a haul of gluten free food

I've been really looking forward to trying the Kelkin Chocolate Teacakes, I hadn't bought them in other supermarkets as the price has been too prohibitive, but £1.99 is a much more reasonable price. They were worth waiting for.

The whole range of gluten free products on sale in Lidl were reasonably priced and more akin to what people without special dietary requirements pay for their food and treats. Hopefully Lidl will continue to stock gluten free products and/or arrange future #LidlSurprises for Coeliacs.

Our shopping bags contained the following Kelkin Free From products:
- Lightly sea salted Organic Corn Cakes
- Hazelnut & Chocolate flavoured Rice Cake Bars
- Jaffa cakes - a product I've seen before and scoffed many many times
- Belgian milk chocolate fingers
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Penne pasta, lasagne, spaghetti and a tomato & basil pasta sauce
- Corn flakes
- Chocolate flavoured Teacakes

We also picked up the Organic Buckwheat flakes but on reading the label again at home we noticed that it has Oat Flakes in, so I won't be eating that. It just goes to show how very very careful you have to be when buying food - I always double check, but as the Buckwheat flakes were on the end of the aisle away from the main range of products we grabbed it as we headed to the till.

A Lidl update 25 February 2015:
Fellow gluten free blogger Gluten-free Issi recently tweeted that the gluten free specials in her local Lidl had been reduced and were now even greater value. So yesterday evening we headed to our local branch in Leagrave, Luton to see what we could get.

The pasta and lasagna were also reduced, but we've got plenty of those in the cupboard. Unfortunately the tomato & basil pasta sauce was out of stock. We've got a couple left and have found the sauce is great as a pizza topping too 

Check out the websites and social media links below for more information about gluten free, Coeliac Disease, Lidl and Kelkin.

Related blog posts:
- Coeliac
- Gluten Free

Links:
- Lidl
- Kelkin
- Lidl on Twitter
- Lidl on Facebook
- #LidlSurprises
- #Lidlers
- Kelkin on Twitter
- Kelkin on Facebook
- Gluten Free Guerrillas
- Coeliac Disease at Coeliac UK

Christmas is definitely over then

The sad sight of abandoned Christmas trees in the New Year.

The sad post-festive season sight of a selection of Christmas Trees ready for recycling/chipping

This year there were two Christmas Tree Mazes in London - one in Vauxhall and one on the Southbank. Unfortunately the Southbank one was closed on our visit.

Roll on Christmas 2015!

Or perhaps there will be some 'festive fun' over the summer...

Back in June 2012 I competed in a Christmas Tree Throwing Competition at a fete in West Berkshire! Great fun, but hard work.

Launching a Nordman Fir at the Yattendon & Frilsham Village Fete. It was quite an agonising experience!

The Christmas period also seems to start earlier each year. For instance I bought and ate my first Mince Pies in September this year!

By the look of these trees I've seen that are well past their use by date, the 'season of goodwill' has continued long into the summer as well.

A browned off Christmas Tree in Luton. In April

Dumped in Hastings and looking very un-Christmassy in May

Check out the Recycle Now website for more information on recycling your Christmas Tree.

Related blog posts:
- Christmas
- Christmas Tree Maze at the Southbank Centre's Winter Festival
- Christmas Tree Maze at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
- Fun and Games at the Yattendon & Frilsham Village Fete (including Christmas Tree Throwing. In the summer!)

Mini Golf Days in 2015

Important dates for your minigolf diary.

Playing Crazy Golf in Hastings

2015 will see three 'Mini Golf Days' taking place around the world.

- National Miniature Golf Day (a quasi-official US holiday) takes place on the second Saturday in May and this year will be on Saturday 9th of May.

- Miniature Golf Day is always on the 21st of September, which this year falls on a Monday.

- In Austria 'Minigolf Tag' (Minigolf Day) has taken place for the last five years. This year's event will be on Sonntag 3 Mai. Visit the Minigolf Tag website and Facebook page for details of the 2015 edition.

There are tens of thousands of miniature golf courses of all shapes and sizes around the world and millions of people play a round each year.

Emily playing at the Splash Point Mini Golf course at Denton Gardens in Worthing

On the serious competition side of things there are over 38,000 Minigolf players in 46 nations that are members of the World Minigolf Sport Federation. They play on the 1,000 courses approved for over 1,500 Minigolf tournaments each year.

On Twitter each Monday is #MinigolfMonday, so hashtag your Crazy, Mini and Adventure Golf posts.

Of course, with so many courses to play (indoors and out), any and every day can be MINIGOLF DAY if you like.

Check out the links below for details of miniature golf courses around the world. Emily and I have visited almost 600 courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour to date.

Related blog posts:
- Mini Golf days in 2014
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Indoor Mini, Crazy and Adventure Golf courses
- National Golf Day 2015
- UK Mini Golf Competitions in 2015

Links:

- National Miniature Golf Day on Wikipedia (within ‘Miniature Golf’ article - the first edition was in 2007)

- Miniature Golf Day on the Holiday Insights website
- Minigolf Tag website

- Mini golf, crazy golf, miniature golf and adventure golf courses worldwide on MiniatureGolfer.com

- The Putting Penguin - Minigolf reviews from around the world

- A Couple of Putts - Minigolf blog from the USA