A minigolf postcard from the Saracen Sands Hotel in Palermo, Italy

A look at an old minigolf postcard from the Saracen Sands Hotel in Palermo, Italy.

This particular postcard was never posted and is undated.

SARACEN SANDS HOTEL - ISOLA (PA). Palermo, Italy. Unposted. Undated

An old minigolf postcard from Zeewolde, Netherlands

A look at an old minigolf course postcard from Flevo-Nature in Zeewolde, Netherlands.

FLEVO NATUUR - HOLLAND. midget-golf. Unposted. Undated

Looking online, Flevo-Nature in Zeewolde is a naturist camping site. The minigolf course is no longer there.

The reverse of the card calls the game 'midget-golf', a name minigolf has been commonly referred to as in the Netherlands since the 1930s.

A Crazy Golf postcard from Skegness

A look at a Crazy Golf postcard from Skegness, Lincolnshire.

The course in the photo is in the same location as England's first Crazy Golf course.

This particular postcard was sent in 1972.

CRAZY GOLF. SKEGNESS. A Sapphire Card. LS2225. Posted from Skegness to New Basford, Nottingham in 1972

The first Crazy Golf course in England opened on South Parade in Skegness in 1926.

In May 2015 the course became the 363rd played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Sadly the course was removed and the area has had a hotel and drive-thru built on it.

The Power of Parker returning for second series

The second series of The Power of Parker starts on Friday 30th May.

The new series of The Power of Parker will be available to watch on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer from Friday 30th May.

We're looking forward to seeing The Power of Parker back on the box

This series of the Stockport-based comedy will be set in 1992.

We won't need to tape the new series as it'll be available on the BBC iPlayer too

We're looking forward to watching - the first series was very funny, and also interesting to see all the filming locations in and around Stockport.

Last November I saw some of the set in Stockport, with the former Bright House shop on Princes Street being turned into 'Parker's Power & Electricals' electrical goods shop!

Watching the first series we also noticed that there was still a piece of Tandy signage in the town!

A minigolf postcard from Mayrhofen in Austria

A look at an old miniature golf course postcard from Mayrhofen.

This postcard was never posted and is undated.

MINIGOLFPLATZ IN MAYRHOFEN, ZILLERTAL. F2119. Hans Hruschka, Mayrhofen, Tirol. DAS FOTOLABOR DER BERGSTEIGER. Unposted. Undated

Mayrhofen is a town in the Zillertal in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Looking online this particular course is still in the town! You can find it at Brandbergstraße 362, 6290 Mayrhofen, Austria.

The course at the Zweiender Restaurant & Minigolf opened in 1964.

It looks like a superb location for a game of miniature golf.

Visit the ZweiEnder Food and Golf website for more information on Minigolf Mayrhofen.

Check out the Minigolf-Atlas for information on courses in Austria (as well as Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg).

A minigolf postcard from Cherrystone Bayshore Campground in Virginia, USA

A look at an old multi-view postcard from the Cherrystone Bayshore Campground in Virginia, USA.

This old postcard includes one image showing a miniature golf course at the Cherrystone Bayshore Campground in Cheriton, Virginia, USA. It was posted on the 8th September 1978.

CHERRYSTONE BAYSHORE CAMPGROUND. Cheriton, Virginia. Plastichrome by COLOURPICTURE. Posted SEP 8 1978

Looking online Cherrystone Campground still exists, and there's a Mini Golf course there too!

A minigolf postcard from Vale do Lobo in the Algarve, Portugal

A look at an old minigolf postcard from Vale do Lobo in the Algarve, Portugal.

This old postcard shows a minigolf course at the Vale do Lobo Golf Resort in the Algarve, Portugal. It wasn't posted and there's no date on it.

Vale do Lobo, Algarve, Portugal. Unposted. Undated

Looking online it appears that the course is still there, with a few updates over the years.

Check out the Vale do Lobo website for more information.

A minigolf postcard from Las Palmas

Here's a postcard from the Hotel Don Juan in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA/ESPAÑA. HOTEL DON JUAN. Unposted. Undated

The hotel is now known as AC Hotel Gran Canaria. Looking online the minigolf course isn't there anymore.

Looney Golf in Bradford has had a makeover

The crazy golf courses at Looney Golf in Bradford, West Yorkshire have been updated.

The team at Looney Golf in Bradford have completed renovations of the crazy golf courses at the venue.

It'll be interesting to see the new courses at Looney Golf on a return to the city.

When we played, there were two 8-hole minigolf courses at Looney Golf - the Neon Jungle and the Dump Yard - plus a bonus hole.

Check out the Looney Golf website to keep up-to-date with the updates at the venue.

Looking on the Looney Golf website there have been other updates at the venue since our visit and it's now also home to Wacky Billiards and Crazy Archery!!! Plus an escape room, table tennis and pool tables.

A Craz-e-Golf postcard from Skegness

A look at a Craz-e-Golf postcard from Skegness, Lincolnshire.

The course in the photo is in the same location as England's first Crazy Golf course.

Craz-e-Golf is an interesting name for the game and not one we'd seen before

The card was posted to Liverpool from Skegness on the 21st June 1977 (a Tuesday). Note the nice postcard cancellation on the card too

The first Crazy Golf course in England opened on South Parade in Skegness in 1926.

In May 2015 the course became the 363rd played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Sadly the course was removed and the area has had a hotel and drive-thru built on it.

Happy 45th birthday Pac-Man

Pac-Man was first released in Japan on this day in 1980.

A small selection of my Pac-Man collection

I like to celebrate the brilliant video game character as often as possible!

Playing Pac-Man in Morecambe

Related blog posts:

• Pac-Man

Happy Shopper shops

Looking back at our visits to Happy Shopper shops since 2020.

We felt very nostalgic during the coronavirus pandemic and one of the old brands from our childhood we thought about was 'Happy Shopper' - the name alone conjures up images of the 1980's.

Emily's first job was at a Happy Shopper in Ipswich and I remember seeing the Happy Shopper shops and branded products a lot when I was growing up in Oxfordshire back in the 1980's and 1990's.

We didn't think there would be many - or any - of the original orange and yellow branded shops still around, but we were proven wrong when we saw one in Preston in September 2020.

The Happy Shopper branding was changed in the year 2000 and I think it lost a lot of its charm and individuality. Many of the former Happy Shopper shops have since been rebranded as Premier shops. Including this one we visited in Sittingbourne, Kent back in 2022.

This Happy Shopper shop in Sittingbourne has since rebranded to Premier

Visiting a fully branded Happy Shopper shop is like stepping back in time

Since spotting the old shop in Preston we've been lucky enough to spot and snap a few more.

The most recent Happy Shopper shop we visited was S & A Singh on Sydney Street in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire. There are still a few others in London and the south of England we need to get to.

Here's a list of posts about other Happy Shopper shops in:

• Preston
• Sheffield (Sharrow Lane)
• Sheffield (Page Hall Road)
• Ilkeston
• Hitchin
• Fallowfield, Manchester
• Ashwellthorpe
• Ormesby St Margaret
• Lowestoft (2011)
• Lowestoft (2021)
• Wisbech
• Sittingbourne
• Burton-on-Trent 1
• Burton-on-Trent 2

You can view my YouTube Playlist of Happy Shopper shop videos here.

Minigolf postcards from Knokke-Zoute in Belgium

A look at two postcards from the past.

Here are two postcards showing the minigolf course in Knokke-Zoute in Belgium. The sepia one was posted in 1955, while the colourised version is unposted.

Note the different names given to minigolf on the two cards - 'Golf miniature', 'Kleine Golf', 'Miniature Golf' and 'Minigolf'.

Knokke-Zoute - Golf miniature. Kleine Golf. Ern. Thill, Bruxelles. No 130. Posted 10 November 1955

Knokke-Zoute - Kleine Golf. Golf miniature. Miniature Golf. Minigolf. ARTCOLOR BRUXELLES. 25. Unposted. Undated

A minigolf postcard from New Brighton

A look at an old miniature golf postcard from New Brighton, Wallasey.

This unposted and undated postcard shows a long lost minigolf course at Victoria Gardens in New Brighton on the on the Wirral peninsula in Merseyside.

VICTORIA GARDENS & BATTERY, NEW BRIGHTON. Photo Precision Limited. R76713. Unposted. Undated

While this course is gone, you can still find two courses in New Brighton - at Championship Adventure Golf.

Crazy Golf at the Fantasy Island Theme Park in Ingoldmells, Skegness

A look back at the Crazy Golf course at Fantasy Island in Ingoldmells, Skegness, Lincolnshire.

What a setting for a game of crazy golf!

We played the Crazy Golf at the Fantasy Island Theme Park in Ingoldmells on this day in 2011!

At that point the 12-hole outdoor Crazy Golf course was the 240th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Check out the Fantasy Island website for more information.

Fantasy Island is now home to an 18-hole course called Lava Creek Adventure Golf. It's a course we need to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Eternit Miniature Golf in Herne Bay

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

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. This postcard was produced by Colourmaster International Photo Precision Limited, St Ives, Huntingdon

KISS Mini Golf at The Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada

A look at the KISS Mini Golf course at The Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Emily visited KISS World featuring KISS Mini Golf and KISS World Museum at The Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas last August.

The KISS Mini Golf course at The Rio became the 1,065th course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.

Emily had previously played the KISS by Monster Mini Golf course back in 2014 in its previous incarnation at Paradise Road in Las Vegas. That course was the 580th visited on our travels.

Check out the KISS Mini Golf website for more information.

Butlin's Monorail Postcards

A look at some superb old Butlin's postcards.

Butlin's Minehead postcard M13. The Monorail. Postally unused. Undated

I love the British seaside with all its quirks, eccentricity and traditional entertainment. I grew up on holidays at Butlin's holiday camps in Minehead, Bognor Regis and Ayr - and spent many summers in the 1980's and 1990's at the Barry Island Holiday Camp which used to be a Butlin's camp.

I've got brilliant memories of the monorail, funfair, laser tag and arcades at Butlin's Minehead. It's little wonder that even now I'm such a big fan of the British seaside, monorails, crazy golf and video-games.

Riding the monorail at Butlin's Somerwest World in Minehead in the early 1990's

Emily and I also visited Butlin's Minehead (formerly Somerwest World) on one of our first holidays together in 2004.

Butlin's Holidays postcard from Somerwest World Minehead. Postally unused. Undated

Over the years we've built up a big collection of minigolf postcards, and we always keep an eye out for Butlin's cards as they're such colourful and fun cards, and seeing the monorail at Minehead brings back many happy memories.

Butlin's Minehead postcard M15. Monorail over a Main Avenue. Postally unused. Undated

Butlin's Minehead - Monorail over Outdoor Swimming Pool by John Hinde Studios. Postally unused. Undated

A Typical Butlin Monorail. Postcard S25. I also have a variation of this postcard with the caption 'BUTLIN'S SKEGNESS Monorail'. That card was posted on 27 July 1971

It's brilliant collecting old postcards of minigolf courses, monorails and holiday camps as they are superb pieces of social history.

Back in the 1970's the minigolf courses at Butlin's holiday camps featured some very big golf balls and tees - they make for a striking image!

Butlinland Skegness - Putting Green and Monorail by John Hinde Studios. Sent on 4 August 1980

Check out the Butlin's website for more information on their holiday parks.

A 'new' old postcard of the Putting Green at Denton Gardens in Worthing

A look at a miniature golf postcard showing the Putting Green at Denton Gardens in Worthing.

This old postcard showing the Putting Green at Denton Gardens in Worthing, West Sussex was posted from Worthing to Tunbridge Wells on the 20th September 1950.

PUTTING GREEN, DENTON GARDENS, WORTHING. H.422. Valentine's Post Card. Posted from Worthing to Tunbridge Wells on the 20 Sep 1950

We've got several other old postcards showing minigolf played at Denton Gardens, you can see them in this blog post.

Minigolf was first played in Denton Gardens on Tuesday 1st July 1924.

And it's still played there today! The gardens next to the seafront are now home to the 18-hole Splash Point Mini Golf course.

Check out the Splash Point Mini Golf website for more information.

A lovely postcard view from Germany

A look at an old miniature golf postcard from Germany.

How about this for a view of Kleingolfplatz Überlingen next to Lake Constance (Bodensee in German) and the Swiss Alps in the distance!

The postally unused postcard shows 'Bodensee-Promenade mit Schweisser Alpen' and 'Kleingolfplatz Überlingen'. Published by Erwin Burda, Freiburg

A note on the unposted card says the visit took place on the 29th August 1960.

It's always marvellous to see views such as this. I wonder how many golf balls were lost in the lake over the years?

Looking on the Minigolf-Atlas the course is still there! You can find it at Cafe Minigolf Kiosk, Seestraße 2, 88662 Überlingen.