Manchester's Halloween in the City

Following the Manchester Monster Invasion: Return of the Monsters art trail.

We had a brilliant day out in Manchester yesterday and followed the Manchester Monster Invasion: Return of the Monsters art trail around the city.

Look up! Look out! Beware!

The Mayfield Depot monster

The Royal Exchange monster

A monster on Ducie Street

Halloween in the City is a brilliant way to get people out and about exploring Manchester.

The entrance to the Poisonous Maze!

A grim sign for MCR

'Manchester Monster Invasion: Return of the Monsters' continues until Halloween night. Visit the Halloween in the City website for more information.

Back in time

Did you remember to put your clocks back an hour?

Here in Stockport we've gone back in time to the year '019'!?

019!?

Happy National Pumpkin Day!

Happy National Pumpkin Day 2019.

Will you be decorating or eating a pumpkin today?

Related blog posts:
- Pumpkins

Manchester Monster Invasion: Return of the Monsters

Halloween in the City is up and running.

This Manchester street scene looks a little different to normal

It was very nice to see one of the invading monsters appear above the Treetop Adventure Golf sign at The Printworks in Manchester city centre.

A brilliant inflatable

There are ten monsters to spot as part of Halloween in the City.

Some of the monsters I saw on my trip into Manchester

Check out my blog post for a look at Treetop Adventure Golf at The Printworks.

Related blog posts:
- Halloween in the City 2019
- Treetop Adventure Golf at The Printworks in Manchester

Ghostbusters in Urmston

Seeing Ecto-1a and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Urmston, Greater Manchester!

Ecto-1a and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Urmston

Ecto-1a and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters were on display at the Eden Square Shopping Centre in Urmston, Greater Manchester today.

I had to go along for a look.

Uh oh!

What a brilliant way to kick off Halloween celebrations.

What a sight!

What a scene!

What an inflatable!

What a car!

Who ya gonna call?

If you've seen - or got - any BIG Halloween inflatables do let me know!

A lost minigolf course in Stafford

Looking for the minigolf course at Wildwood Park in Stafford.

In September 2017 we visited Stafford to look for a miniature golf course at Wildwood Park.

There was no sign of it.

A nice bench sign combination

We did however find the Crazy Golf course at the nearby Rowley Park Stadium.

Franky Stine in Bridlington

A Frankenstein's monster obstacle for Puttober.

Playing the Franky Stine hole on the Crazy Golf at the North Marine Putting Greens in Bridlington

A Couple of Putt's post for Day 24 of Puttober reminded me of the Franky Stine obstacle we played on the Crazy Golf course at the North Marine Putting Greens in Bridlington.

With Franky

That course was the 383rd we've played and 663th visited.

Emily playing at North Marine Gardens in Bridlington

While we were in Bridlington back in 2016 we also visited our 666th course at the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course.

It was certainly a unique course and one I got locked up in so I had to play a shot out of a prison cell!

New Puttshack Super Tech Mini Golf opening in Bank, London

The next Puttshack indoor minigolf course is opening at Bank in London.

After we'd played a round at Puttshack in White City we headed to the city to meet some friends and en route swung by 1 Poultry at Bank to have a look at the new Puttshack location being built there.

It was a nice touch to have the windows looking down on the site

The new Puttshack venue will be home to three 9-hole high-tech minigolf courses, with technology enabling tracking of player scores on screens around the course.

One of the entrances to the course will be via Bank underground station

Puttshack Bank is due to open on Saturday 23rd November.

Playing a game at Puttshack White City

Puttshack's first location opened at Westfield London in White City in 2018. The second of the Puttshack venues opened at intu Lakeside in August this year. There are plans for a new Puttshack to open in Watford next year.

For more information visit the Puttshack website.

Here's a view of the Sapphire course at Puttshack White City from our recent visit.

Wacky, Waving, Inflatable, Arm-Flailing, Tube Man in Luton

An airdancer from the archives.

We saw this Wacky, Waving, Inflatable, Arm-Flailing, Tube-man at a funfair in Luton's Wardown Park back in August 2010.

Halloween in the USA - Part V

A look at some brilliant Halloween decorations from the USA.

Emily was recently in the US and while there spotted some excellent inflatable Halloween decorations.

Inflatable Halloween decorations at Walmart in New Jersey

There are now only 7 days to Halloween!

Unfortunately there wasn't enough room in her luggage to bring any back to decorate our house with.

Check out my blog post about Halloween-themed minigolf courses and events to see what's happening.

Our friends Robin and Tom at A Couple of Putts have also created the hashtag #Puttober to share all things Halloweeney at miniature golf courses.

Southwold Putting Championship 2019

The Southwold Putting Championship takes place this Sunday.

A lovely spot for some miniature golf

Good luck to all of the players in the Annual Southwold Putting Championship taking place in the Suffolk seaside town on Sunday 27th October.

The Southwold Putting course was the 478th played and 811th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in May last year.

I managed to score aces on the 7th and 11th holes. It's always nice to score holes-in-one on grass Putting courses

It's a lovely setting and a really good grass putting layout.

On our visit I shot a 41, the the low round of the week.

The course was a good test of putting skill

The course is well worth a visit. If you gain the lowest score of the week or season you earn yourself a spot in the annual tournament. You can also buy into the two-round competition with a £5 charity donation at the course.

Visit the Southwold Putting & Cafe on the Green on Facebook for more information.

Halloween in the City 2019

A look at some of the monsters that have invaded Manchester city centre.

The first monster I saw was atop the old Mayfield Station

Halloween in the City has kicked off and the city centre has been invaded by ten monsters.

A monster on top of Next at the Manchester Arndale

I was in Manchester yesterday afternoon and managed to spot five of the beasts.

Two of the monsters at Selfridges in Exchange Square

Emily and I are looking forward to finding them all this weekend.

The Depot at Mayfield monster

Halloween in the City is a superb idea to get people out and about exploring Manchester.

There's a dragon at The Printworks

Visit the Halloween in the City website for more information and to download the Monster Invasion: Return of the Monsters map.

Pretty much every tree in the city centre is full of pumpkins!

My lucky day

I popped out to buy some magic beans earlier and spotted this new place to buy lottery tickets.

Sketchy and Blair Witchy!

Luckily the Wallet Inspector stopped me before I ventured in.

World Tripe Day

Happy World Tripe Day.

Today is World Tripe Day. Will you be having any?

World Tripe Day is an opportunity for tripe lovers to celebrate their love of tripe.

Please ask for tripe

Ever since I first spotted tripe on a butcher's stall at Wigan Market in 2012 I've been following the Tripe Marketing Board with interest. Although not enough interest to have actually eaten tripe. I'm fairly certain that cow's stomach is something of an acquired taste. I do believe it's gluten free though.

Lots of tripe in Leeds

The Tripe Marketing Board is dedicated to educating the public about eating tripe as part of a healthy, balanced diet and was formed as an industry-wide response to the continuing post-war decline in tripe sales in the UK. This was due to the ending of rationing, increasing affluence and a widespread perception that it is not fit for human consumption.

Stockport tripe

The Tripe Marketing Board told me that up until the 1960s you could find hundreds of tripe shops throughout Lancashire, with many of the shops run by United Cattle Products (UCP) and offering nose-to-tail food at the attached cafes and restaurants. 

The UK's last remaining tripe shop can be found in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester.

The 'branded' name of this product is 'Chitterlings'. It certainly sounds better than the homogeneous product name!

Visit the Tripe Marketing Board website for more information about tripe. You can also use Tripe Adviser to locate sellers of the delicacy.

Related blog posts:

- There's truth in advertising and then there's this!

Putting Green at the Thorpeness Golf Club and Hotel

A look at the Putting Green at the Thorpeness Golf Club and Hotel in Suffolk.

We played the excellent Jiggers Miniature Golf course at Thorpeness Golf Club & Hotel in Suffolk back in May 2018.

The venue is also home to a big golf course and a nice little Putting Green.

A lost Crazy Golf course in Falmouth

During the summer of 2015 we had a two week road trip around the South West of England.

During that time we found and played a number of courses.

Sadly some of the places we visited were home to lost courses.

One of the more recognisable locations was at Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth, Cornwall. The course appeared on a number of postcards over the years.

While the course is now part of a garden it is still clear that it was once a Crazy Golf layout.

89 years since the first National Tom Thumb Golf Championship took place

Celebrating 89 years since the first National Tom Thumb Championship was contested in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Garnet Carter created the first artificial miniature golf course in the USA in 1926. The first of the 'Tom Thumb Golf' brand of miniature golf course was an 18-hole layout located near Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

By 1930 there were some 25,000 miniature golf courses in the USA, 3,000 of which were the now patented Tom Thumb course franchises.

The course and fantasy theming caught the imagination of visitors and on the 23rd October 1930 the final of the first-ever National Tom Thumb Championship took place.

Qualifying events had taken place in all of the then 48 states of the USA, with 200 players representing 30 states in the grand final. The event had a total prize fund of $10,000, with the champion winning $2,000!

Today hundreds of miniature golf competitions take place around the world and new courses are opening up all the time.

We haven't played a Tom Thumb Golf course on our travels, but we do have some nice old postcards of Tom Thumb courses in our collection. This one is of a course at Westende Bains in Belgium

Check out the Crazy Golf Museum website for more details of minigolf history.

Bunkers! Crazy Golf & Drinks opening in Swansea

There's a new indoor Crazy Golf course and bar opening in Swansea, Wales.

Swansea will soon be home to a new minigolf course as Bunkers! Crazy Golf opens in December.

Visit the Bunkers! website for more information.

Bunkers! Crazy Golf is from Adventure Leisure Ltd, part of Burhill Group Limited and the team behind Mr Mulligans Adventure Golf.

It'll be interesting to see the new Bunkers! Crazy Golf course when it opens.

We enjoyed our last visit to Swansea way back in 2009 and always love visiting Wales.