Gluten free at Yorkies in Skegness

While in Skegness for a weekend away at the seaside it was great to have some gluten free options for dining out. In advance of my trip I'd received tips about gluten free places on Twitter and Facebook and found that Yorkies Cafe in the town centre had a really good gluten free menu, with lots of options. It was so good I dined there twice.

On my first visit I had a burger and chips. It was brilliant. The chips were delicious. For my second meal I had a Sunday Dinner - a real rarity. It was especially good as nothing was missing from the plate. I had lamb, roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, a yorkshire pudding and gravy! A proper dinner

There are plenty of gluten free options at Yorkies. I was very impressed with the responses to my questions about the preparation and cooking of the gluten free food. It's always reassuring to have accurate and confident responses to your queries 

On both visits there were other diners choosing gluten free options. That was reassuring to see and hear. Yorkies is well worth a visit 

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac
- Skegness

Links:
- Coeliac UK
- Lincolnshire Coeliac Group

Mini Golf in Windsor

A round of Mini Golf on the Extreme Motion Adventure Golf course in Windsor, Berkshire.

Hole 11 at the Adventure Golf course in Windsor - the Castle. With Windsor Castle in the distance

On Saturday 2 May we had a nice day out in Windsor. On our last visit to the town in May 2009 Emily and I played the Eternit-style Miniature Golf courses in the park. Last June I was flying solo and played a round on the new Adventure Golf course.





The 18-hole course can be found in Alexandra Park and is good fun. It's £5.50 a round for adults and £4.50 for children and senior citizens.

Playing hole 1

I scored 40(+4) this time.

Hole 4

Hole 10

Hole 17 - a nice and terrifying volcano

Visit the Extreme Motion website for more information and check out the post from last year for more photos of the course.

Mini Golf in Alexandra Park, Windsor

The old courses were numbers 98 and 99 on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, while the new course was the 562nd visited and 338th played.

Links:
- Extreme Motion website
- Extreme Motion on Facebook

Videos:
- Hole in One on hole 5
- Hole in One on hole 13
- Hole in One on hole 17

Related blog posts:
- Windsor Adventure Golf course
- Minigolf Course Visits 98 & 99 - Alexandra Gardens, Windsor
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - list and links for all courses visited to date

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

Gluten free Primula dips

As a big fan of snacks and nachos it's great to see Primula have Nacho Cheese Dips that are gluten free.

Primula's dips have a new look - the cheese dip has a macho nacho man. I've had the Nacho Cheese Dip before. It's great, and something I've really missed being able to have since diagnosis as a Coeliac 

Looking on the Primula website the other dips in the range are also gluten free. Other Primula products are gluten free too.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac

Link:
- Primula

Gluten free from New Zealand and Australia

Emily recently returned from our antipodes and brought me back some great gluten free goodies.

Bakeworks gluten free Triple Chocolate Cookies

Ernest Adams gluten free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Kez's gluten free Vienna Eclair biscuits

The gluten free biscuits were all bought from a Countdown supermarket at the Westfield Albany shopping centre in Auckland, New Zealand.

While at the Southgate Melbourne shopping mall Emily also noted that there were 24 places offering gluten free options for diners!

Searching for dining options in the Southgate Melbourne mall Emily found 24 gluten free choices

On her trip to Spain earlier this year I also got a lot of interesting gluten free snack and treats.

It's always brilliant finding (and eating) different gluten free food as the strict and lifelong gluten free diet can get a bit samey.

Links:
- Bakeworks
- Ernest Adams
- Kez's
- Coeliac New Zealand
- Coeliac Australia

Related blog posts
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Gluten Free

- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac
- Coeliac Awareness Week in Australia
- Sin Gluten

Happy Minigolf Tag (Minigolf Day) 2015

National Day of Minigolf celebrated in Austria.

Happy 'Minigolf Tag' to my fellow minigolfers in Austria!

Playing the Swedish Felt Minigolf course at the Askoe Wien Wasserpark in Vienna, Austria

The event is organised by the Austrian Minigolf Federation (Österreichischer Bahnengolf-Verband - OBGV) and the 2015 event is the sixth edition.

Each year around 550,000 Austrians (15% of the country's population) play Miniature Golf and today is a celebration of the great game.

The Eternit Miniature Golf course at the Askoe Wien Wasserpark in Vienna, Austria

In March 2010 I visited the Askoe Wien Wasserpark in Vienna, Austria and got to play one of the toughest (and longest) Swedish Felt Minigolf courses in Europe. The layout was the 163rd course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It was also the first place I spotted a Pit-Pat course (a cross between Billiards/Pool/Snooker and Minigolf!).

The Pit-Pat Hindernis Billard course at the Askoe Wien Wasserpark in Vienna, Austria

There are two more 'Mini Golf Days' coming up in 2015 - National Miniature Golf Day is on Saturday 9 May and Miniature Golf Day is on Monday 21 September.

And of course every Monday there's #MinigolfMonday on Twitter!

Links:
- Askoe Wien website
- Askoe Wien on Facebook
- Austrian Minigolf Federation (Österreichischer Bahnengolf-Verband)
- Minigolf Tag (Minigolf Day)
- World Minigolf Federation

Related blog posts:
- Austria
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Pit-Pat
- Minigolf Tag
- Minigolf Course Played #163 - Vienna, Austria (Askoe Wien Wasserpark) - Swedish Felt
- Minigolf Course Visit #210 - Vienna, Austria (Askoe Wien Wasserpark) - Eternit Miniature Golf
- Minigolf Course Visit #210(a!?) - Vienna, Austria (Askoe Wien Wasserpark) - pit-pat "Hindernis Billards"!
- Mini Golf Days in 2015

Special May Days

Details of special awareness and celebration days for Coeliac Disease, Miniature Golf and Golf in May 2015.

During last year's Coeliac Awareness Week I was Mini Golfing Gluten Free at Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, Kent

What a month May is! There are lots of special 'days' and 'weeks' and the whole month is both Celiac Awareness Month in the USA and Canada, and National Golf Month here in the UK.

Sunday 3 May (Sonntag 3 Mai) is Minigolf Tag (Day) in Austria.

Saturday 9 is National Miniature Golf Day (a quasi-official US holiday).

The 11 to 17 May is Coeliac UK's annual Coeliac Awareness Week. It's also the Coeliac Society of Ireland's Coeliac Awareness Week.

The 16 May is International Coeliac Day. Visit the Association of European Coeliac Societies (AOECS) for more information.

Over the weekend of 16 and 17 May Hastings Adventure Golf will play host to the British Minigolf Association for the BMGA British Championships.

In New Zealand Coeliac Awareness Week is running from 18 to 24 May.

A happy Coeliac with his lunch. I had some special gluten free deliveries to the course from Annie's Larder while in Margate for the BMGA British Minigolf Championships last year

Check out the blog posts and links below for more info on the different things happening in the gluten free and minigolf worlds this month.

Related blog posts:
- Mini Golf Days in 2015
- May is National Golf Month
- UK Mini Golf Competitions in 2015
- Celiac Awareness Month 2015
- Coeliac Awareness Week 2015
- Minigolfing Gluten Free

Links:
- Coeliac UK
- National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) / Celiac Central
- Coeliac Society of Ireland
- Coeliac New Zealand
- National Golf Month
- Minigolf Tag
- British Minigolf Association
- World Minigolf Sport Federation
- Hastings Adventure Golf
- Read my Gluten Free Journey blog on the Udi's gluten free website

Luton Petanque Club

Details of Luton Petanque Club.

Spot the boule

I've heard there are two upcoming open days at Luton Petanque Club where you can play for free. Boules will be provided. The open events are on:
- Saturday 2 May between 2 and 5pm
- Saturday 20 June

Petanque (or Boules as it's also known) is a great game. I've played a few ends with Alan and some of the other club members. Very good fun indeed.

Luton Petanque Club also play informal games every Tuesday afternoon at 1pm, Thursday at 7.30pm and Sundays at 11am. The club is based at Play Football on St Thomas Road, Stopsley, Luton. Check out the Luton Petanque Club website and Twitter for news and events.

Playing Boules with Luton Petanque Club at the 2012 Community Games

Links:
- Luton Petanque Club
- Chiltern Region Petanque
- The English Petanque Association

Related blog posts:
- Petanque
- Pétanque
- Boules

Where there was once a Crazy Golf course

A look at the site of a one-day only art pop-up crazy golf course in Bedford.

Alexandra Road, just off Midland Road, in Bedford was once the site for a one-day-only art installation minigolf course. There are plans for the vacant site is to be used for residential and commercial premises

Related blog posts:
- M!MS Empire Sunset Nine Hole Mini Golf course in Bedford

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- Bedford

Celiac Awareness Month 2015

May is Celiac Awareness Month.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) is supporting Celiac Awareness Month that will take place throughout May.

Coeliac Disease (Celiac in the US and Canada) 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, in the USA the figure is 1 in 133.

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.

I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease in May 2008

In the UK, 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. Last year I was Minigolfing gluten free in Margate during Coeliac Awareness Week.

Visit the Celiac Central website for more information on their work and Celiac Awareness Day.

In the USA Celiac Awareness Day is on Sunday 13 September. For more information visit the Celiac Central website and see my blog post about Celiac Awareness Day 2014.

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

The funniest thing I saw today

Why wouldn't a dog climb into a stack of shopping baskets!

A dog at the Dog Stop at Waitrose in Leighton Buzzard

Despite the best efforts of a member of staff the dog didn't fancy moving. It was happy as Larry in there.

May is National Golf Month

Organised by the British Golf Industry Association, National Golf Month will be taking place during May 2015.

My main sport is Minigolf, but I can often be found pitching & putting around the 9-hole Golf courses at Stockwood Park (pictured) and Tea Green in Luton

National Golf Month gives golf clubs the opportunity to promote offers through the National Golf Month website to reach both lapsed and new golfers.

The BGIA operates under the umbrella of the Federation of Sport and Play Associations (FSPA) and is the lead trade body representing UK manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors of golf products and services.

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Emily and I have visited almost 600 miniature golf courses, some of which are located at 'regular' golf courses. Quite a few golf clubs and centres are building new Adventure Golf style layouts to encourage people to take up the BIG game.

Hoebridge Golf Centre in Woking went all out on its new Adventure Golf course

In April 2012 we visited and played the world's first miniature golf course - The Himalayas - at the home of Golf, St Andrews.

Playing the world's first Miniature Golf course

Emily on hole 18 at The Himalayas

We've also played the world's first Pitch & Putt course, located in Southsea, Hampshire.

As a fan of minigolf here's my blog post about the three 'days' for the great game.

- Minigolf Tag in Austria takes place on Sonntag 3 Mai.

- National Miniature Golf Day is on Saturday 9 May.

- Miniature Golf Day is ALWAYS on 21 September - this year it'll be on a Monday.

Since 2007 we've competed on the British Minigolf Association Tour and have played for the Great Britain Team at European and World Minigolf Sport Federation tournaments.

Check out the links below for more information on National Golf Month.

Links:
- National Golf Month at Mipins
- National Golf Month at England Golf
- British Golf Industry Association (BGIA)
- National Golf Month on Twitter
- National Golf Month on Facebook

Related blog posts:
- Golf
- Mini Golf Days
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- The Himalayas Putting Course at St Andrews, Scotland
- Two Miniature Golf Firsts
- Miniature Golf and the Olympic Games
- National Golf Day 2015
- Types and Variants of Miniature Golf visited
- Minigolf Clubs in the UK

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

596 minigolf courses visited to date

Nearing the landmark 600th minigolf course visit on our tour.

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Charter Members Emily Gottfried and Christopher Gottfried at Treasure Island in Southsea - the location of the first two course visits on the tour

Back when we started travelling around the UK we wanted to visit as many seaside resorts and towns as we could - there are over 500 and we've been to 193 to date.

In May 2009 the 100th course we visited overall was at Pops Meadow in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk. When we played the Crazy Golf course in June 2010 it was the 174th we had a round on

The 100th course played was Smugglers Cove Adventure Golf at South Shields, Tyneside in June 2009

The Masters Putting Green in Southport was the 150th course played when we visited in September 2009

The first stop-off was Southsea to visit my little brother. While there we played the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course on the sea front and when we got home we found the excellent minigolf resource MiniatureGolfer.com that listed around 600 courses in the UK.

In September 2010 the Curse of the Mummy in 3D indoor blacklight Crazy Golf course at Xscape Yorkshire in Castleford became the 200th course played on the tour

The 400th course visited overall was at Salthouse Fields in Clevedon, North Somerset in July 2011. The Crazy Golf layout was the 258th played

In total we've visited 596 miniature golf courses and played 360 of them, some of them many times over.

In April 2012 we visited the world's first miniature golf course - The Himalayas at St Andrews

In July 2012 the Minigolf course at Wonderland in Telford, Shropshire became a double landmark course as it was the 300th played and 500th visited overall

The second hole at Wonderland Telford was made of wooden planks!

We've visited and played minigolf in each of the home nations, and so far 21 of the courses we've visited have been overseas - including locations in Finland, the USA, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Hong Kong.

Emily plays hole 18 of the 250th course played on the tour in June 2011. This was in Stockholm, Sweden while we were on international duty as part of the Great Britain team.The 50th course played was also a 'Beton' style of minigolf course while we were playing for GB in Tampere, Finland in May 2008

In total, our travels have taken us to 458 different places in the UK, and that's not including the many many many little places we've stopped at briefly. And of the 193 seasides we've been to so far we've played, or visited, minigolf courses at 120 of them.

The Swedish Felt B-Run style of minigolf at Mead Open Farm in Billington, Bedfordshire was the 350th course played on the tour, and 584th played overall when we had a game there in October 2014

Where will the 600th course be...?

Link:
- MiniatureGolfer.com

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Types and Variants of Minigolf
- Landmark minigolf courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

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

Eternit Miniature Golf in Herne Bay

An old postcard from Herne Bay reveals a miniature golf course.

While at the York International Postcard Expo we found a bumper crop of postcards showing minigolf, crazy golf and putting courses from around the UK, and one from South Africa.

A postcard from the seaside resort of Herne Bay in Kent was an exciting and interesting find as it showed the town was once home to an 'Eternit' style of Miniature Golf course. A lovely piece of minigolf history.

The Eternit Miniature Golf course in the central foreground of the postcard (Herne Bay PT4524). The course was located on the town's Central Parade. The card is postally unused and undated. As the pier suffered fire damage in 1970 the card is from the 1960's. It was produced by Colourmaster International Photo Precision Limited, St Ives, Huntingdon

It's often thought that these 'European standard' Miniature Golf courses, often known as 'Eternit', don't exist in this country. While many have become derelict over time there are examples still standing, though they have often been amended, with a variety of new obstacles added to the 'lanes'. I've got a few other examples in my postcard collection.

We played a version of Eternit Miniature Golf at thecentre:MK a couple of times. This course has had felt added to the concrete playing surface

Unfortunately the Miniature Golf course on Ayr seafront in Scotland is a derelict example of an Eternit course

Herne Bay is still home to a Mini Golf course - it was the 78th course we played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in November 2008.

You can find Herne Bay Mini Golf next to the ifun@Sandancers amusement arcade on Central Parade

Links:
- York International Postcard Expo
- Reflections of a Bygone Age
- Picture Postcard Monthly Magazine
- Herne Bay Mini Golf

Related blog posts:
- Postcard
- Postcards
- Herne Bay
- Eternit
- A Putt-Putt Postcard from South Africa

Gluten Free Hot Dog Sausages at Asda

Spotting the gluten free hot dogs in the Asda Butcher's Selection range.

While shopping at Asda in Dunstable I noticed the new sausages and hot dogs in the Butcher's Selection range. I've been hunting for gluten free Frankfurters for ages so it was great to see.

There are a lot of gluten free hot dog sausages in the Butcher's Selection range at Asda. As well as Frankfurter Hot Dogs there are Hot Dogs in BBQ Pork, Spicy Cajun, Bratwurst, Hickory Smoked Cheese & Jalapeño, Pork, Mini Pork and Footlong varieties

Many of the hot dog toppings were also gluten free and were clearly marked as such. The American Mustard Mayo, Cheese Sauce, Currywurst, Smoked BBQ and Spicy Chilli Mayo toppings and sauces are gluten free

Visit the Butcher's Selection section of the Asda website for more information on the range.

I cooked up some of the Asda Frankfurters for dinner - here's the hot dog with bacon, mustard and onions on a warmed DS Ciabatta roll (they're the nicest rolls I've found to date). It went very well with a Vagabond gluten free beer

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Sausages
- Hot Dog

Links:
- Asda
- Coeliac UK

Gluten free Pretzels

Happy National Pretzel Day!

As today is National Pretzel Day here's a quick blog post about gluten free Pretzels I know of.

Gluten free Pretzels by DS Gluten Free

Gluten Free Pretzel Sticks by Barkat

As well as the Pretzel Sticks Barket make normal gluten free Pretzels.

I've found that Eskal Foods also sells Pretzels, and I've enjoyed scoffing the very nice milk chocolate coated Pretzels before too!

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac

Links:
- DS Gluten Free
- Barkat Gluten Free
- Eskal Foods
- Coeliac UK