Merrie England

A specifically Yorkshire fast food place.

I love the quaint look of the Merrie England branding. They even have a mock Tudor style inside

I'd never heard of the Merrie England coffee shop brand until I visited Huddersfield in May this year. It's a chain with branches in Huddersfield, Halifax and Brighouse.

There seem to be Merrie England coffee shops on every main street and shopping area in Huddersfield!

Looking on the Merrie England website they offer gluten free options too.

Do you have any fast food brands specific to your town or city?

Laser Zone in Huddersfield

As well as having a sixth sense in finding minigolf courses I can also sniff out a laser tag arena wherever I go.

Laser Zone in Huddersfield

I haven't had a game of laser tag in quite a few years. I really need to get something organised.

Laser Zone in Huddersfield has a sister site in Bradford.

Pitch & Putt at Crooklets Beach in Bude, Cornwall

A look at the Pitch & Putt course at Crooklets Beach in Bude, Cornwall.

I really like seeing golf signs painted on roofs

During the summer of 2015 we visited 62 miniature golf courses on a tour of the South West of England.

One of those was the Pitch & Putt course at Crooklets Beach in Bude, Cornwall.

A little Pitch and Putt sign

We didn't have time to play it, but did play the Crazy Golf course at Bude Haven Recreation Ground.

There's a RAGE ROOM in Stockport town centre!

A new Rage Room and Escape Room has opened in Stockport.

TRAPP'D and DESTROY'D - two new activities in Stockport

They're a fairly recent addition to the alternative activity / competitive socialising scene.

Have you tried one?

The last time I did anything like a rage room was playing the Crockery Shy at the Yattendon & Frilsham Fete back in 2012.

The Escape Room can be found on Facebook and online.

The Rage Room can be found on Facebook.

Fartown

Fartown is in Huddersfield.

I can't be the only one that finds this funny

Harcourt Sands derelict holiday camp in Ryde

A look at the abandoned Harcourt Sands holiday camp in Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

Back in October 2016 we visited the Isle of Wight and the first place we looked round was Ryde.

We're always looking for miniature golf courses and found the Pirate Adventure Golf course on the esplanade, the Mini Golf at Puckpool Park and a sign for a non-existent Pitch & Putt course at Appley Park.

While wandering back from Puckpool Park to the seafront we saw the remains of the derelict Harcourt Sands derelict holiday camp.

It's always a sad, but interesting, sight to see an abandoned holiday camp.

Harcourt Sands holiday camp closed its doors in 2006.

When the camp was open it was home to a Putting Green.

Blast off!

A look at some of the minigolf rocket-ship obstacles we've seen on our travels.

We've seen some quirky rocket-ships on our Crazy World of Minigolf Golf Tour travels.

Have you seen any interesting rocket obstacles on a course? Do let us know.

Happy 1st of October

The countdown to Halloween is on...

Are you looking forward to Halloween?

Check out my Halloween-themed blog post for details of upcoming events.

Related blog posts:
- Halloween
- Halloween-themed minigolf
- Halloween-themed minigolf at Minigolfnews

13 years of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Marking 13 years of our crazy golf travels.

Today we're celebrating 13 years of our minigolfing adventures.

At our 900th minigolf course visit earlier this year

While we were visiting my brother Christopher at uni in Portsmouth back in 2006 we played the Victory Trail course at Treasure Island Adventure Golf in Southsea. At the end of our round on Saturday 30th September I won a free game by firing the cannon on the lucky last hole.

We last played the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course in Southsea on the 30th September 2016 to celebrate ten years of our travels. I won another free game then too. I also won a free game when we revisited the course on the fifth anniversary of our tour on the 30th September 2011. Incredibly I won again on the 7th August 2015

That was the beginning of our minigolf travels. We've now visited 925 courses, 39 of which have been overseas.

The first course we visited on what would become our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

How different would our lives have been if I'd missed my shot on the final hole?

The lucky last hole at Treasure Island Adventure Golf

When our travels began there were around 600 courses in the UK. That number has grown massively in the last eight years. When we first set out to visit all the courses in the country there were only two indoor courses, one in Felixstowe and one in Great Yarmouth. Both are still open and have been joined by around 100 other indoor minigolf venues!

My brother Christopher has now been to 30 courses in the UK and nine overseas countries on his own branch of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Altogether we've visited 947 courses.

Check out our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses for links to the courses we've been to.

Putting Greens at Altrincham Golf Course

A look at the two Putting Greens at Altrincham Golf Course.

While in Altrincham back in March 2018 we swung by Altrincham Golf Course as we'd spotted the pub there while driving along the Stockport Road.

Altrincham Golf Course has two Putting Greens, a 6-hole and a 9-hole.

The 19th hole is very good too.

The Swingers Open Crazy Golf tournament 2019

Enter The Swingers Open for a chance to win a trip to New York!

Entries are now open to the third annual Swingers Open minigolf tournament in London.

The event will see two qualifying events take place at the Swingers City Crazy Golf venue in October before the grand final takes place at Swingers West End in November.

The Swingers Open minigolf tournament is being run in association with Tanqueray No. Ten gin and the prize is a trip to New York for the four team members.

Check out the Swingers Crazy Golf website for more information and the event format.

Britain's Smallest Pub - The Lakeside Inn at Southport

Revisiting Britain's Smallest Pub, The Lakeside Inn at Southport.

We finished off our trip to Southport and Miniature Golf Day 2019 in the best way possible by visiting Britain's Smallest Pub, The Lakeside Inn.

The Lakeside Inn measures 22ft by 16ft and lays claim to being Britain's Smallest Pub.

We first visited it in October 2016.

We've also visited the Smallest Pub on the Planet. That's at the Cleethorpes Light Railway in Lincolnshire.

Pitch & Putt miniature golf course in Southport

A look at the Pitch & Putt miniature golf course in Southport.

We had a look at the Pitch & Putt golf course while in Southport on Miniature Golf Day.

Click for a view of the greens from a similar position in 2016

It looked quite different to when we first visited it in October 2016.

I wonder whether the course opened this season, or if it closed earlier in the year than previously as it looked quite overgrown

Only the 'F' remains on the GOLF sign atop the old Public Conveniences next to the course. All the letters were there the last time we visited

Related blog posts:
- Southport
- Pitch and Putt
- Southport Seafront Golf Classic Pitch & Putt course

Schär gluten free products in Düsseldorf, Germany

A look at Schär gluten free products on sale in Germany.

Lots of Schar gluten free food in Germany

Emily was recently in Düsseldorf, Germany and took these snaps of the Schär gluten free products available there. They are certainly different to the products available in the UK.

Savaiardi

Vollkornbrot

Pain Brioche

Knackebrod

Zwieback

Carrotinis

In 2017 Emily brought me back some Schär gluten free goodies from Spain.

Link:
- Schär gluten free

Related blog posts:
- Schär
- Gluten free

Pac-Man ghost street art in Düsseldorf, Germany

Spotting the Pac-Man ghost stickers in Düsseldorf.

Emily recently returned from Düsseldorf, Germany and while there noticed a lot of Pac-Man ghosts stuck up around the city.

This was the first Pac-Man ghost Emily spotted

The Pac-Man ghost stickers are the work of the street artist known as Pdot who has put up 2,000 of the stickers in Düsseldorf!

We're big fans of video games, Pac-Man and street art, so it was a nice surprise for Emily to see them on her trip.

A yellow ghost. The stickers by Pdot are only found on the back of street signs

A red ghost. And oh look, a tram too!

They're hidden in plain sight everywhere!

Related blog posts:
- Pac-Man
- Germany
- Street Art

Miniature Golf Day dates for your diary

Dates of Mini Golf Days in 2020.

With both of this year's Miniature Golf Days now celebrated it's worth noting the dates for next year's Mini Golf Days.

I played the Pirate Cove Adventure Golf course in Aberavon, Port Talbot, Wales on National Miniature Golf Day 2019

The first of the year is National Miniature Golf Day which is on the second Saturday in May. In 2020 that is Saturday 9th May.

We played the Crazy Golf course at Southport's Botanic Gardens on Miniature Golf Day 2019

The second, Miniature Golf Day, is always on the 21st September. Next year that will be a Monday.

The Masters Putting Green in Southport

A revisit to The Masters Putting Green in Southport.

Last Saturday we had a wonderful day out in Southport and it was brilliant to see so many people playing The Masters Putting Green at King's Gardens.

The Masters Putting Green in Southport was the 150th course we played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've revisited the course in October and November 2016, and January and October 2018.

Playing hole 10

A hole-in-one on hole 9 of The Masters Putting Green in Southport

The course was so busy this time that we didn't have time to queue up to play a round. We did however have a game on the Crazy Golf course at Southport's Botanic Gardens to celebrate Miniature Golf Day.