Mini Golf at Haven's Wild Duck Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

A look at the Mini Golf course at Haven's Wild Duck Holiday Park in Belton, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

Our friends Sophia and Karl Moles sent over some photos of the Mini Golf course at Haven's Wild Duck Holiday Park in Belton, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk from their recent holiday there.

Sophia told us they enjoyed a couple of rounds on the course, with the best score from the group being a 25 by Karl. The course record is 24 on the 9-hole layout.

They also visited the course back in the summer of 2019.

Check out the Haven website for more information on the Wild Duck Holiday Park.

Minigolfing Moles

Karl and Sophia have been to quite a few different holiday camps with their family and have sent over minigolf snaps from trips to Haven's Caister-on-Sea Holiday Park, Pontins Pakefield, Allhallows Leisure Holiday Park, Jungle Adventure Golf at Parkdean's Vauxhall Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth, as well as the Crazy Golf course at Suffolk Leisure Park in Ipswich, Minigolf Sport Club Sanremo in Arma, Italy and the miniature golf course on the MSC Opera cruise ship!

36 years of Blockbuster Video

Gone, but not forgotten.

The first Blockbuster Video store opened in Dallas, Texas, USA on this day in 1985.

At its peak in 2004 there were more than 9,000 stores around the world. 500+ of which were in the UK.

There is now just one Blockbuster Video store left open. It's in Bend, Oregon, USA.

Blockbuster in the UK

Blockbuster Video Express in Billingham, Teesside

Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013. At the start of that year there were 528 Blockbuster locations in the UK. The number dwindled until October when only 264 shops remained. The remaining stores closed on the 16th December.

The most recent former Blockbuster store we visited was in Clacton-on-Sea. It was nice to see it had a ghost sign

There are still clearly visible remnants of the brand on the high street and on retail parks. And we've been to most of them!

Blockbuster Video stores we've visited

Check out the posts about other former Blockbuster Video stores we've been to in:

• Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• Ashton, Bristol
• Barnsley, South Yorkshire
• Basingstoke, Hampshire
• Billingham, Teesside
• Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
• Chester, Cheshire
• Chorley, Lancashire
• Clacton-on-Sea, Essex
• Colne, Lancashire
• Fallowfield, Manchester
• Felixstowe, Suffolk
• Filton, Bristol
• Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
• Hastings, East Sussex
• Leigh, Greater Manchester
• Luton, Bedfordshire
• Marple, Greater Manchester
• Nuneaton, Warwickshire
• Oldham, Greater Manchester
• Prescot, Lancashire
• Shanklin, Isle of Wight
• Southampton, Hampshire
• Telford, Shropshire
• Wythenshawe, Manchester

A ghost sign at the old Blockbuster Video Express store in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight

Lost brands

I've spent a lot of the last two years reminiscing about 'the good old days' before the coronavirus pandemic hit the planet. One of my areas of interest is in old retail brands - I'm a marketer by profession and two of my first jobs in the 1990's and the year 2000 were at Tandy and Toys R Us. It's been fascinating to find remnants of a number of lost, dead and defunct brands on the high street and at retail parks.

Crazy Golf at Pop's Meadow in Gorleston-on-Sea

A look at the Crazy Golf course at Pop's Meadow in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk.

A big thank you goes to the team at Pop's Meadow Cafe and Fun Park for sending us these photos of the new Crazy Golf course there.

We heard last week that the venue had reopened and added a new minigolf course to the site. Great news.

Visit the Pop's Meadow Cafe and Fun Park on Facebook for more information.

It's always brilliant to hear about new miniature golf courses opening and it's really nice when sites of lost courses once again become places to play the game.

The former Crazy Golf course at Pop's Meadow in Gorleston-on-Sea was the 100th course we visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour when we swung by on the 10th May 2009.

We played the old Arnold Palmer Putting course at Pop's Meadow in June 2010 and the last time any of us swung by it was back in 2016 after it had closed down

We've now been to 973 courses since September 2006.

We're planning a big minigolf trip to Norfolk for next summer and it'll be marvellous to have a game of crazy golf at Pop's Meadow again.

Roxy Ball Room heading to Bristol

A new Roxy Ball Room could be opening in Bristol.

There are plans for a new Roxy Ball Room to open in Bristol city centre.

Roxy Ball Room venues are home to a number of sports and games including Crazy Golf, Crazy Pool, Shuffleboard, Pool, Beer Pong and more.

Check out the Roxy Ball Room website for more information.

We've played Crazy Golf at the Roxy Ball Room locations in Manchester and Leeds on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We're yet to play minigolf at the Liverpool site.

Crazy Golf back at Pop's Meadow in Gorleston-on-Sea

A Crazy Golf course is once again part of Pop's Meadow in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk.

Pop's Meadow fun park in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk is once more home to a Crazy Golf course.

A temporary layout has been created by the new operators of the site and there are plans for a more permanent course to be put in place in the future.

Check out the Pop's Meadow Cafe and Fun Park on Facebook for more information.

It's always nice to hear about new minigolf courses opening and especially nice when sites of lost courses once again become places to play the game.

The Crazy Golf course at Pop's Meadow in Gorleston-on-Sea was the 100th course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour when we swung by on the 10th May 2009. We've now been to 973 courses since September 2006.

We played the course in June 2010 and the last time any of us swung by it was back in 2016 when it had closed down

We're looking forward to revisiting Pop's Meadow and playing the new course there.

Pop's Meadow is a site of historical significance in the world of miniature golf as the game has been played there for many many years

Minigolf mining

Last week I put out a question on social media about whether there are any Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom style runaway mine car-style rides at theme parks or fairs in the UK.

Part of the prompt for this question was watching the film, with another being the new section of holes we saw at the Pavilion Adventure Golf in Clacton-on-Sea that includes a broken down mine.

We've seen a couple of other mining scenes on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Alpine Adventure Golf course on the Great Orme in Llandudno, Wales

Dragon's Quest Mini Golf course at Fontygary Leisure Park in Rhoose, Barry, Wales

Skull Point Adventure Golf on Clacton Pier

A look at the Skull Point Adventure Golf course in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

We visited Clacton Pier during our East Anglian Road-Trip in August and while there checked out the Skull Point Adventure Golf course at the No.1 North Sea address.

The 18-hole course is spread out over two levels, with some holes indoors and others outside

The lucky 19th hole

Check out the Clacton Pier website for more information.

A Covid-19 sign

Skull Point Adventure Golf was the 972nd course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

We've played minigolf on Clacton Pier before. Back in May 2011 we played the pop-up adventure golf course half way along the pier.

Did you know...

Halloween 2021 is the first time in 666 years that Halloween falls on Friday the 13th

An oversized minigolf cheque

I won the Weymouth Open minigolf tournament on this day in 2008.

The inaugural Weymouth Open minigolf competition was held on the 18-hole Pirate Adventure Mini Golf course at the Weymouth Sea Life Centre at Lodmoor Country Park.

I had a very good record in Weymouth Open events. As well as winning the individual title in 2008 my team-mate Chris Harding and I were the Weymouth Open doubles champions in 2011.

I was also runner-up in the 2009 and 2011 events and seventh in 2010. In the 2009 tournament Kevin Moseley and I were tied after two rounds and it took 4-holes of a sudden-death play-off to separate us.

The course was the 77th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've now been to 973 courses since September 2006.

Keep following the brown signs

A blog post about brown tourist signs.

I was pleased to hear that my fellow blogger, 'dull' person and fan of the quirky Amanda from Follow The Brown Signs was back in action after a hiatus.

We've always been interested in straying off the beaten path and even before we found out about Follow The Brown Signs we would look for and find different things to see and do while out and about on our travels.

Finding out about Amanda's mission and website in 2011 gave us even more ideas as well as another outlet for us to share tips and stuff from our own quest.

Just last week I spotted a brown sign, followed it and found a Pumpkin Garden!

Check out the Follow The Brown Signs website for more information and inspiration.

Here's a selection of brown tourist signs from our adventures.

Pavilion Adventure Golf in Clacton-on-Sea

A revisit to the Pavilion Adventure Golf course in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

We took a look at the Pavilion Adventure Golf in Clacton-on-Sea during our visit to the town on our East Anglian Road-Trip.

We first played the course in May 2009 when it was a 10-hole layout. It was the 94th course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've now been to 973 courses since September 2006.

These holes haven't changed much since we first visited

On a return trip in June 2015 another hole had been added to make it 11-holes.

One of the original holes

On our visit in August the name of the course had changed from Augusta Adventure Golf to Pavilion Adventure Golf and it was a 14-hole course.

This is part of the new additions

Visit the Clacton Pavilion website for more information.

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