Christmas and Crazy Golf comes to Northwich

Playing the Christmas-themed minigolf course from Lancashire Crazy Golf at the Northwich Christmas Extravaganza.

Christmas Crazy Golf in Northwich

We love Crazy Golf and Christmas, so what better way to spend the last day before the 'real' festive season tees-off than to have a game of Christmas-themed Crazy Golf.

A nice sign to see

Holes 2 and 3 of the set up outside the indoor market

Organised by Visit Northwich, this year's Christmas Extravaganza was held over two weekends in the Cheshire town as the weather was dreadful last weekend and put a halt to the Crazy Golf attraction among others.

The festive obstacle on hole 8

Emily playing hole 3

Luckily today was a lot more pleasant a day, and really quite warm for the time of year, so we headed over to Northwich for a game on the free-to-play pop-up minigolf layout.

Emily putting on the 9th hole

The course from Lancashire Crazy Golf is unusual as it's a 10-hole configuration rather than a 9 or 12-holer. We played our round as a 9-hole match as the 10th hole is quite different in the scoring method applied!

The rules of hole 10

As with most of our games it was very close, but a hole-in-one from me on the 8th hole secured a one-shot victory over Emily.

Emily on the 2nd hole

The Christmas-themed pop-up Crazy Golf course in Northwich was the 1,068th course we've visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, and the 580th layout we've played on our travels.

The course was proving popular when we arrived around midday, but luckily the area housing the course had enough space for players to move around and skip any bottlenecks. And we managed to get some nice snaps of the course during some of the gaps in play.

Hole 1

Hole 2

Hole 3

Hole 4

Hole 5

Hole 6

Hole 7

Hole 8

Hole 9

Hole 10

Check out the Visit Northwich website for more about the town and its various events throughout the year. We visit Northwich a few times each year, and although Crazy Golf features at several of the events until today we'd not had a chance to have a go on the course.

You can find out more about hiring the pop-up course on the Lancashire Crazy Golf website.

Northwich is home to a pair of permanent miniature golf courses that we've visited several times on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. You can find a Crazy Golf course and Putting course at Vickersway Park next to the town centre. Both are worth a look, and the park is a very pleasant spot.

Crazy Golf course at Vickersway Park in Northwich (November 2024)

A revisit to the Crazy Golf course at Vickersway Park in Northwich, Cheshire.

We swung by the Crazy Golf course at Vickersway Park while in Northwich recently. We really like the park, it's a nice and pleasant spot just outside the town centre.

As well as the Crazy Golf course the park is also home to a grass Putting course.

The 9-hole Crazy Golf layout at Vickersway Park was the 700th course we visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in September 2016.

The Chrizy Golf Masters minigolf competition in Manchester

I won the Chrizy Golf Masters miniature golf tournament 12 years ago today!

The first - and to date only - Chrizy Golf Masters minigolf tournament was held on a festive-themed pop-up crazy golf course at Piccadilly Place in Manchester on the 30th November 2012.

The Chrizy Golf course was the 313th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've now been to more than 1,000 courses since September 2006.

The Chrizy Golf course was gone once the 2012 festive season was over and the building remained empty, or used for other pop-ups, until the team at Junkyard Golf made it their home for another minigolf course. That layout was there for a couple of years. They have since moved on and can be found at a permanent venue at First Street in the city.

Crazy Golf at the Whittlesey Christmas Extravaganza

Crazy Golf will be among the activities on offer at the Whittlesey Christmas Extravaganza taking place in the Market Square, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire on Saturday 14th December.

Find out more on the Whittlesey 2024 Christmas Extravaganza Facebook Page.

Lost Shops - Blockbuster Video Express store in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex (April 2023)

Taking a look at the former Blockbuster Video Express store in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.

The signage at the old Blockbuster Video Express store in Westcliff-on-Sea is no more, and work is underway on the unit to create two new shops and flats.

Here's what it looked like when we visited in April last year.

Blockbuster Video in the UK

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

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 last stores closed on the 16th December.

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

Check out the posts about 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
• Failsworth, Manchester
• Fallowfield, Manchester
• Felixstowe, Suffolk
• Filton, Bristol
• Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
• Hastings, East Sussex
• Leigh, Greater Manchester
• Luton, Bedfordshire
• Marple, Greater Manchester
• Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire
• Nuneaton, Warwickshire
• Oldham, Greater Manchester
• Prescot, Lancashire
• Shanklin, Isle of Wight
• Southampton, Hampshire
• Telford, Shropshire
• Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex
• Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
• Wythenshawe, Manchester

Lost brands

Emily and I have spent the last few years reminiscing about 'the good old days'. One of our areas of interest is in old retail brands - we're both marketers by profession and two of my first jobs in the 1990's and the year 2000 were at Tandy and Toys R Us, while Emily's first job was at a Happy Shopper shop. It's been fascinating to find remnants of these brands - and a number of other lost, dead and defunct brands - on the high street and at retail parks around the UK.

Street Golf in Manning's Amusements at Beach Street in Felixstowe

Manning's Amusements in Felixstowe, Suffolk is getting a new indoor crazy golf course.

Street Golf is planned to open at Easter 2025.

The existing Magical Golf FX course at Manning's Amusements closes for the final time today, Sunday 24th November 2024, after 25 years!

We're looking forward to checking out the new Street Golf course when it opens.

We've played crazy golf at Manning's Amusements in Felixstowe a lot over the years. The first time we played there was back on the 19th November 2006 when it became the fifth course we ever visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It was also the first indoor minigolf course we played.

How the indoor adventure golf course at Manning's Amusements looked in December 2016

Back then it was one of only two indoor minigolf courses in the UK!

We've now been to 1,067 courses (1,009 in the British Isles) and there are a lot more indoor minigolf venues than there were in the mid-noughties.

The Golf FX course was a brilliant layout, with lots of optical illusions and practical effects. It was a unique course and ahead of its time with its sound and light effects. Very few courses have come close to capturing the fun of it.

Emily playing Golf FX in November 2014 on one of our many visits to Felixstowe over the years

Since our first visit the course has had a few upgrades, mild refurbishments and name changes - it was called 'Golf FX' when we first played and has been known as 'Magical Golf', 'Magical Golf FX' and 'Harry Putter and the Magical Crazy Golf'!

The green on the first hole is still the only rotating one we've seen on our travels!

We hope the new Street Golf course being built at Manning's Amusements upgraded Leisureland at Beach Street is as good as, or better than, the course it's replacing.

Over the last few years the team at Manning's have transformed the amusements and leisure area to incorporate Beach Street - a container yard for dining, drinking and entertainment. You can get lovely sea views from some of the seating and we enjoyed meeting friends for tapas there on our last visit to Felixstowe.

Find out more on the Manning's Amusements and Beach Street Felixstowe websites.

One month until Christmas Day

There's only a month to go until Christmas Day!

Home Alone Minigolf at Teezers Retro Golf in Coventry

Some inflatable advertising in Stockport

Spotting a piece of inflatable advertising in Stockport.

I spotted this piece of inflatable advertising while driving through Woodley and Bredbury in Stockport.

While it's not an airdancer (aka a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man) it was still fun to see it in place advertising the Super Shine Hand Car Wash.

Crazy Boules in Shoreditch

There's a Crazy Boules pop up in Shoreditch, London this festive season.

Crazy Boules is a cross between Petanque and Crazy Golf!

The Crazy Boules pop up in Shoreditch is a six hole (or should that be piste?) course (or should that be terrain?).

The Crazy Boules pop-up will be open from Thursday 5th December and runs for eight weeks to Sunday 26th January 2025.

Check out the Crazy Boules website for more information.

Crazy Boules sounds like a lot of fun. We're big fans of Crazy Golf and Petanque, so it could be the perfect combination!

Mini-Golf at Maidenhead Aquatics in St Albans

There are plans for a Mini-Golf course at Maidenhead Aquatics in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

The new Mini-Golf at Maidenhead Aquatics is proposed to be an 18-hole outdoor layout.

Check out the Maidenhead Aquatics website for more information.

It'd be another new course for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Minigolf at the Vasaparken in Vasastan, Stockholm, Sweden

A look back at our visit to the Swedish Felt minigolf course at the Vasaparken in Vasastan, Stockholm, Sweden.

Minigolf course at the Vasaparken in Vasastan

We had a short break in Sweden in February 2018 and managed to visit nine miniature golf courses in the 42 hours we had there.

Minigolf course at the Vasaparken in Vasastan

One of those courses was the Swedish Felt minigolf course at the Vasaparken in Vasastan, Stockholm.

Minigolf course at the Vasaparken in Vasastan

It became the 802nd course visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, and the 33rd we'd been to overseas.

Minigolf course at the Vasaparken in Vasastan

It's a nice looking Swedish Felt minigolf course, but was unplayable because of the snowy conditions at the time of our visit.

Minigolf course at the Vasaparken in Vasastan

Minigolf course at the Vasaparken in Vasastan

Adventure Golf at West Lodge Farm Park in Desborough, Kettering

There's an Adventure Golf course at West Lodge Farm Park in Desborough, Kettering, Northamptonshire.

The 9-hole Adventure Golf course has a farm-theme.

Check out the West Lodge Farm Park website for more information.

The Stockport Pyramid

The Stockport Pyramid is reopening in 2025.

One of the first landmarks - among many fine buildings - we noticed when we moved to Stockport in 2016 was the Stockport Pyramid.

The Stockport Pyramid

Not many towns in the UK can lay claim to being home to a pyramid!

A view of the pyramid across the M60 

The Stockport Pyramid had been home to the Co-operative Bank until 2018 and the building had been empty since then.

Views of the Stockport Pyramid in August 2020

It was originally planned to be the first of five pyramids in Stockport's own Valley of the Kings. That plan didn't come to fruition and the Stockport Pyramid sits on in the Kings Valley industrial and trading estate next to the M60.

A view of the pyramid from a train into Manchester on the viaduct

Plans have now been approved for Royal Nawaab to create an Indian dining destination including a restaurant and banqueting hall in the building.

It'll be interesting to make a booking and get to go inside for a look around the intriguing building.

The Stockport Pyramid was completed in 1992 after five years work. Standing 36.6 metres (120 feet) in height, the Stockport Pyramid is somewhat smaller than Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands 147 metres (481 feet) high. However, the striking structure has become a familiar sight to people in the town, those passing on the M60, or passengers on trains on the lines across the viaduct.

Visit the Royal Nawaab website for more information.

Roxy Golf indoor minigolf courses

Where to find Roxy Golf indoor minigolf courses.

We've visited several Roxy Ball Room locations on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - the first being the Leeds Boar Lane venue back in 2016.

You can find Roxy Booze & Ball Games locations in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and York.

The locations have a mix of indoor competitive socialising options, games and entertainment.

Where to find Roxy Golf indoor minigolf courses

You can play Roxy Golf at Roxy Ball Rooms at Leeds (Boar Lane), Manchester (Deansgate) and Liverpool (Cavern Quarter).

Roxy Golf at Roxy Ball Room in Leeds

Roxy Golf at Roxy Ball Room in Manchester

Roxy Golf at Roxy Ball Room in Liverpool

Visit the Roxy Ball Room website for more information, prices and opening times.