New Free From range at Morrisons

Morrisons launches new Free From products.

Towards the end of last month Morrisons expanded its range of Free From products and the news sent ripples of excitement through the Coeliac and Gluten Free communities. I was particularly excited to hear that there were going to be new Curly Fries in the range, along with a number of other sweet and savoury treats.

The Curly Fries and Mini Hash Browns are only £1 a bag. Bargain

The updated branding, word of mouth buzz and excitement and the promise of new gluten and wheat free products at Morrisons means I've been spending a lot more time (and money) at my local store in Cheadle Heath. Much of the last two weeks has been spent keeping an eye out for the Curly Fries and Hash Browns. Luckily I managed to track some down on my dinner break today. I know what I'll be having for tea tonight!

The freezer section has a number of new Free From products

Looking in the Free From section I noticed a number of other gluten free products from brands outside of the Morrisons own-brand range, which is great to see.

A selection of the new gluten free cereals in the Free From section at Morrisons

Last year Morrisons expanded the range of Free From products available in store and so it's brilliant they are continuing to provide products that are safe and suitable for people with allergies, intolerances and autoimmune diseases (such as Coeliac Disease).

Check out the Morrisons website for details of their Free From range.

Related blog posts:
- Morrisons
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac

Link:
- Morrisons

Trams in Warsaw, Poland

A view of some trams in Warsaw.

Emily knows me so well and brought me back this great snap of some trams in Warsaw, Poland following her recent trip to the country.

The older of the two trams could well be the Polish tram equivalent of the dreaded Pacer Railbuses we have here.

You can see how efficiently the trams and traffic operates in Warsaw in the video below.



We haven't got any trams in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport yet, but we're surrounded by areas of Greater Manchester that do have tram lines. Some stations share both heavy and light rail operations.



We've seen quite a few trams on our travels over the years.

One of the trams next to the abandoned Crazy Golf course at Starr Gate in Blackpool

Related videos:
- ABC Weekend Television Tram at Blackpool Illuminations October 2016
- Tram at Manchester Victoria railway station January 2017
- Two minutes of Trams in Warsaw, Poland February 2017

Related blog posts:
- Train nerdery

Krynica Morska Minigolf Open tournament in Poland

Details of the Krynica Morska Minigolf Open competition in Poland.

My friend Paweł Larus has sent over details of the 2017 Krynica Morska Minigolf Open tournament taking place in Poland this summer.

A view of the venue in Krynica Morska (photo by Sopot Minigolf Club)

The two-day competition is the 5th edition and will take place on the 18-hole Miniaturegolf (Eternit) course at Krynica Morska on the 24th and 25th June. The nearest airport is Gdansk. You can find out more details on the event on the Sopot Minigolf Club website.

There will be prizes in Open, Seniors, Juniors, Men, Women and Team categories and all participants will play 5 rounds on the Saturday and 3 rounds on Sunday. Competition in each category, except Open, will finish after 8 rounds. The 9th round is played by the best 8 players of the Open category. Entry to the tournament is 60PLN (€15) per player and registration closes on the 15th June.

Emily playing the Eternit Miniaturegolf course in Stockholm, Sweden during the WMF Nations Cip

We've played a number of Eternit Miniature Golf courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, includng two in overseas tournaments. Emily has shot a 24 in competition on an Eternit course - at the 2011 WMF Nations Cup in Sweden - which is still a national women's record score on the Miniaturegolf format of the game.

The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) is the umbrella organisation of 63 Minigolf sports associations worldwide and recognises four types of minigolf - MOS, Concrete, Miniaturegolf and Feltgolf.

Links:
- Minigolf Club Sopot website
- World Minigolf Sport Federation website

Related blog posts:
- Eternit
- Eternite

Happy March

Find out about the Cumberland Pencil Museum in the Dull Men's Club 2017 Calendar.

The star of March in the Dull Men's Club 2017 Calendar is Dawn Walker, the Curator of the Cumberland Pencil Museum in Keswick.

March 2017

Back in 2012 we visited Keswick but didn't have time to visit the Cumberland Pencil Museum as we played the minigolf course at Hope Park instead.

Keswick was a wonderful spot for an afternoon of miniature golf

As well as being addicted to minigolf, we also run a museum dedicated to the world of Crazy Golf. We've got a lot of pencils in the archives. They've been an essential part of the game since it was invented in 1867.

Two of the many minigolf pencils stashed in the vaults of the Crazy Golf Museum

Our obsession with miniature golf has also got us included in the Dull Men's Club 2017 Calendar. You can see us in the month of July.

The Dull Men's Club is a place where dull men, and women who appreciate dull men, share thoughts and experiences about ordinary things

The Dull Men's Club 2017 calendar also features a cutlery sculptor, tombstone traveller, prefabricated buildings fan, lost glove spotter, a bubbleologist, giant pumpkin growers, a barbed wire enthusiast, a brown sign follower, village pump spotter, a vintage radio collector, and a couple who built a life-size railway station in their back garden.

Visit the Cumberland Pencil Museum website for more information.

Links:
- Dull Men's Club
- Cumberland Pencil Museum
- The Crazy Golf Museum

Related blog posts:
- Dull Men's Club
- Pencils
- Keswick

Mini Golf at Hope Park in Keswick

A visit to the miniature golf courses at Hope Park in Keswick, Cumbria.

Our mammoth minigolf roadtrip in April 2012 took us to Keswick in Cumbria and the three miniature golf courses at Hope Park.

Hitting and hoping at Hope Park in Keswick

The lovely weather meant the Obstacle Golf course was incredibly busy, with queues of people lining the course.



As we were pushed for time we had a game on the 18-hole Putting green where I picked up a one-shot victory over Emily 48 to 49. Although by the time we started playing our round we noticed the players thinning out on the Obstacle Golf. It's a course to return to in the future.

Obstacle Golf and Putting at Hope Park in Keswick

The courses were the 466th, 467th and 468th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, with the Putting course becoming the 288th played.

Emily tees-off at Hope Park

On the Putting Green

Emily Putting next to the Petanque piste

Lining up a Putting Green shot while hindered by an Obstacle Golf hole

A view of the miniature golf courses at Hope Park

Obstacle Golf in the foreground, then the Putting, with the Pitch & Putt in the distance

What a view

This looks like a tricky shot

A rocky hole

The Obstacle Golf course and part of the Putting Green next to it

A dogleg hole on the Obstacle Golf course

The Pitch & Putt course at Hope Park

Visit the Hope Park, Keswick website for more information. Looking on the site there is also a Petanque piste in the park.

Related blog posts:
- Visiting a further 49 Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in England and Scotland
- Unplayed Minigolf Courses on our Roadtrip to Scotland & Back
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Link:
- Hope Park, Keswick website

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

Petanque at the Parkway Hotel & Spa in Cwmbran, Wales

Blog about the Boules piste at the Parkway Hotel in Cwmbran.

Looking through our photo archive for my recent blog post about the old Petanque piste at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester I spotted a couple of snaps from one of our stays at the Parkway Hotel & Spa in Cwmbran, Wales and the 'Boules Pitch' they have there.

They play petanque differently in Wales!

The Boules Pitch at the Parkway Hotel in Cwmbran

Back in 2009 we competed in a Boules Invitational Tournament at The Mumbles in Swansea. The competition against our friends and minigolf rivals the Kukielka family took place prior to the first-ever Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg (Welsh Minigolf Tournament) and during our BIG minigolf roadtrip around the Welsh coast.

Boules Invitational Tournament champion Seve 'Steve' Kukielka on his way to victory at The Mumbles

We've found quite a few petanque terrains and boules pistes on our travels and since we moved up to the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport last summer we've been members of the Woodstock Petanque Club in Edgeley.

Related blog posts:
- Petanque
- Boules
- Cwmbran
- Wales

Crazy Golf at the Lake District Visitor Centre in Brockhole

Playing the minigolf course at the Lake District Visitor Centre in Brockhole, Cumbria.

During our minigolf roadtrip back in April 2012 we swung by the Lake District Visitor Centre in Brockhole, Cumbria for a game on the Crazy Golf course there.

Crazy Golf at the Lake District Visitor Centre

The Brockhole Crazy Golf course became the 286th played and 461st visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. There was also supposed to be a grass Putting course at the Lake District Visitors Centre, however this wasn't yet open for the season.

The Putting area

There were marvellous views from parts of the course

In our minigolf match-up on the Brockhole Crazy Golf course Emily picked up the win by one shot 37 to 38.

Choose your weapons!

We've since played similar layouts to the Brockhole Crazy Golf course in Torquay and Liverpool.

Visit the Brockhole on Windermere Lake District Visitors Centre website for opening times and prices.

Related blog posts:
- Visiting a further 49 Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in England and Scotland
- Unplayed Minigolf Courses on our Roadtrip to Scotland & Back
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Link:
- Brockhole on Windermere Lake District Visitors Centre website

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

Games at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester

Minigolf and Pétanque at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.

Since we moved up to Greater Manchester towards the end of last summer Emily and I have started playing pétanque ‏with the Woodstock Pétanque ‏Club based at Alexandra Park in Edgeley, Stockport.

Playing with the Woodstock Petanque Club at Alexandra Park in Edgeley, Stockport last August

There's a growing pétanque ‏scene in the area, with the Trafford Pétanque‏ Club doing a lot to promote the game and mixing it up in some friendly melee's with Mirfield Pétanque Club, Huddersfield Pétanque Club and Heckmondwike Pétanque Club.

Aly and Chris from Trafford Pétanque‏ Club recently recce'd Wythenshawe Park and found an abandoned boules terrain there. They asked me if I remembered it from when we visited a few years back. Off the top of my head I didn't.

Boules / Petanque was not listed on the sign at the Games Pavilion in Wythenshawe Park. It wasn't on the price list either

However, looking through our photo archive I found we had indeed visited the petanque piste while at Wythenshawe Park to play the minigolf course back in 2009!

The Petanque terrain at Wythenshawe Park - and a handy How to Play sign!

We'll have to head over to Wythenshawe Park to have a look at the Crazy Golf course considering it's now our most local layout! In the meantime here are a couple of snaps from our visit to the course on the 25th July 2009. We were in the area to compete in the Miniature Open tournament held at Playgolf Manchester - we'd finished first and second in the event earlier in the day.

The Crazy Golf course at Wythenshawe Park was an Eternit-style of Miniature Golf

Quite a zig zag of a hole!

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Petanque
- Minigolf Course Visit No. 114 - Wythenshawe Park

Links:
- Trafford Pétanque‏ Club
- Woodstock Pétanque ‏Club
- Northern Pétanque Clubs
- Northern Pétanque
- English Pétanque Association