A visit to play Gator Adventure Golf at Escape Entertainment in Chorley.
We played at the first new course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since February this year when we swung by Gator Adventure Golf at the Escape Entertainment venue in Chorley, Lancashire on Thursday 13th August.
The Floridian-themed Adventure Golf course at Escape Entertainment in Chorley's Market Walk shopping and entertainment centre is an 18-hole indoor layout. It looked superb and the overall venue was nicely set-up.
Gator Adventure Golf became the 955th course visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.
The last round I played was back on the 9th March while our last round together was on the 19th January!
Before our visit to Gator Adventure Golf the last totally new course played on our tour was back on the 25th February.
Minigolf in the time of social distancing
How times have changed since then - and not just the difference between playing wearing big coats for those winter rounds and masks for indoor entertainment now!
We have understandably been apprehensive about going out. We've started travelling a little further afield than Stockport in recent weeks to get a change of scenery and shake up our exercise routine.
Chorley isn't too far to drive to and we'd planned to have a nice socially distanced evening walk round the town to get our steps in for the day. We knew the Gator Adventure Golf course had opened in the new Market Walk entertainment and shopping complex last year and would've likely checked it out earlier this year if it hadn't been for Covid-19 stalling the world.
There were a fair few sanitisation points around the venue
After parking up we headed to Escape Entertainment to have a look and see what it was like. After walking round the outside and seeing the open signs we popped inside, sanitised our hands and headed upstairs for a quick look.
Just Alligators and Coronavirus to contend with!
The venue is operating adjusted hours to normal at the moment so was closing at 8pm. We arrived at 7.30pm and luckily were able to have a quiet round with the course to ourselves. It was actually the perfect way to get back into the swing of minigolfing and nice to pick up a putter again after so long.
There was lots of social distancing signage. It was prominent but not too distracting
Teeing-off
Speaking of which, the process for getting us out on the course was straightforward and gave peace of mind. The three members of staff we spoke to - at a great distance - were all friendly and professional and our thanks go to them for helping us have a fun experience.
All set to tee-off
After giving our details for track and trace to one member of staff at the desk near the entrance another member of staff was getting our cleaned putters, golf balls, pencil and scorecard over by the course. We were told to leave our clubs and balls in the bucket at the exit.
Clean clubs
Heed the warnings during your round
At the end of the round
Playing again
After collecting our equipment we stepped onto the course and our first game of minigolf in the time of coronavirus got underway!
Hole 3 - the airboat - was my favourite
The theming of the holes, the surroundings and artwork on the walls really add to the experience, as do the nice touches such as the lighting and sound effects on some of the holes.
The course and surroundings look wonderful
There were some very tricky obstacles and hazards over the 18-holes including some volcanoes, plateaus and doglegs that were nigh on impossible to score a hole-in-one on.
Hole 3 was a dogleg with a plateau!
Hole 1 had a very tough green to putt up onto
Part of the back 9 had a sea theme
Hole 13 had an interesting obstacle on the green...
...a vibrating disc to put you off your putt!
In our minigolf match-up I took the win with a score of 43 to Emily's 53. Ever since we started competing against each other there's either one shot between us, or ten!
As well as the Gator Adventure Golf course Escape Entertainment in Chorley is home to tenpin bowling, a bar and restaurant.
When the pandemic lockdown hit the UK on the 16th March 2020 we had been to 948 courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006. We've now been to 955 minigolf courses. We've got 40 of the original 600 we set out to visit left and a lot of new courses to play at too!
We had a nice walk around Chorley town centre yesterday evening and one of the interesting shops we spotted was Steals. It's got some superb signage.
What a shop front - that orange and black colour scheme has a really retro look to it
I hadn't heard of Steals before but looking online it's a bargain clothes shop with branches in Blackpool, Preston, Accrington, Poulton-le-Fylde and Chorley.
The Steals store in Chorley opened on the site of a former Littlewoods Clearance store last year.
A look at the mural artwork on the old BHS in Stockport's Merseyway shopping centre.
The mural on the side of the old BHS in Stockport
BHS became defunct in August 2016, but there are still traces of the brand if you know where to look.
Made in 1978
The building is now home to a Poundland store, however there are two small signs bearing the BHS logo and they are visible at the front of the shop.
One of the last visible signs of the old BHS branding
The side of the building on Deanery Way contains a wonderful mural made up of concrete panels and mosaic tiles and depicts the history of the town over seven hundred years.
Working up Deanery Way from 1239 to 1978
The artwork was designed by Henry Collins and Joyce Pallet and created in 1978.
Here's a look at the five panels, starting with the most recent era (the seventies!) and working back to the year 1239...
Panel 5
Panel 4
Panel 3
Panel 2
Panel 1
Stockport, Cheshire - whether this is, or isn't the case (it isn't), remains a matter of conjecture in the town. It was certainly a big talking point given the location of the recent Greater Manchester Coronavirus Pandemic Lockdown Zone!
Retail parks, malls and shopping centres have become a popular location for minigolf courses and other activities as part of retailtainment offerings. This shoppertainment offers customers something extra to shopping and dining, as well as increasing footfall and dwell time at a venue.
