I haven't blogged about gluten free stuff for a little while - it's not been intentional, but life as a busy coeliac hasn't left me with much time of late. And it's not like my Coeliac Disease is going away any time soon so there'll be plenty of time for me to post on one of my favourite subjects.
The prompt for this blog post was the receipt of a box of gluten free beer from Green's! It was a very pleasant surprise. I'm looking forward to drinking them over the Christmas period.
The Green's range - visit the Green's website for more info on the eight gluten free beers
I've tried the beers before and at the first Herts & Beds Coeliac Food Fayre I attended I enjoyed sampling the wide-range Green's produce. It's always nice to have a choice.
Green's tell me they'll be closed over the Christmas break, but if you're in need of a fix of some more booze over the festive season you can still get hold of bottles at Ocado, Sainsbury's and Pizza Express.
Check out the Green's website for more info. You can buy the full range of Green's gluten free beers in their online shop.
I've blogged about gluten free beer, ale and lager a fair bit before (I am a fan of a tipple) - and a few years ago I got some of Green's beer flavoured mustard! Check out the links below for more gluten free related blog posts.
Report from the final event of the minigolf season.
Leagrave Minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried teed-off in the final event of the 2015 British Minigolf Association (BMGA) Tour season on Sunday 6th December at the Star City Open competition held at the Adventure Island Mini Golf centre at Star City in Birmingham.
The Star City Open tournament was played over three 18-hole rounds on the Lost Hut Trail course at the Adventure Island Mini Golf venue, and was won Oxford’s Michael Smith.
With the 2015 season over the pair have completed their ninth-year as BMGA Tour players. Richard finished the year in 17th place of 115 places in the BMGA Official Strokeplay Order of Merit Rankings, with Emily in 32nd position.
Notes:
- Eight tournaments over a two-year period count towards a player’s total number of ranking points.
- The way the rankings are calculated changed for the 2015 season and an overview of the new system can be found on the BMGA website.
Emily doesn't work a million miles away from the Crazy Golf course in Camden and snapped this photo of the course this evening. Ironically she has never putted on the course
A revisit to the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Whitby.
We originally visited the Arnold Palmer Putting Course in Whitby in March 2014 and earlier this year had the opportunity to return to the seaside town. Luckily the course was open to play this time!
Playing hole 1
It's a brilliant 9-hole Crazy Golf course with some classic Arnold Palmer obstacles including the Windmill and Waterwheel.
We had a fun and competitive round which ended in a draw after we both shot rounds of 20.
One round was certainly not enough for me though and I had to have another crack at the LUCKY LAST HOLE for a chance to WIN A FREE GAME PASS.
The Lucky 10th Hole
Luckily for me I managed the feat! The 'no expiry' free game card looks amazing and I won't be cashing it in as it's gone straight into my collection of miniature golf stuff.
Another FREE GAME PASS for the collection
My second round was a clean 16 (-2). Nice.
What should be an easy ace opportunity
You can find the Arnold Palmer Putting Course on North Terrace of the West Cliff in Whitby. It's well worth a visit.
Playing at a new London mini golf course in Waterloo.
Playing the loop-di-loop at Birdies Crazy Golf Club
On Tuesday 10th November we visited the latest Mini Golf course to arrive in London - Birdies Crazy Golf Club.
The three hole on a ramp double pipe obstacle on the third
You can find the 9-hole miniature golf course tucked away in The Vaults underneath Waterloo station.
The first hole features real sand bunkers
Birdies Crazy Golf Club is open six nights a week until the 20th December, with a round of Crazy Golf costing £9 per person, per round.
In addition to the underground minigolf course, food and drink is available from the Caddy Shack clubhouse. On our visit we enjoyed a couple of 'Glory Hole' cocktails there!
The loop-di-loop fourth hole, with one of the two bars in the background - they've got a good range of golf-themed cocktails on offer. The 'Glory Hole' was particularly pleasing!
We really enjoyed our visit and game of Crazy Golf. When we first arrived the venue was heaving and the course packed with Crazy Mini Golfers. Before we left I had a second round on the well designed minigolf course.
A busy Birdies
One of our favourite holes. We actually saw one player get their ball to stay on the top of the ramp, and another land in the area below the holes!
The Birdies Crazy Golf Club course is nice and playable and I'd love to go back and try to better my score.
Birdies Crazy Golf Club is well worth a visit
It'd be a great location for a minigolf tournament too - perfect for any weather conditions, a tricky and testing course, fun obstacles, a bar, hot dogs and another bar!
You can get Hot Dogs there too
The new London Crazy Golf course became the 672nd visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 390th we've played.
The scene of our 672nd minigolf course visit since 2006
Each of the nine holes at Birdies has a 'pro' tip from Tiger Would, here's a selection of them.
Birdies Crazy Golf Club has been launched by the team behind the Underground Film Club. Check out the links below for more info, opening times and to buy tickets.
Last year we visited the lovely little Isle of Cumbrae to play the Crazy Golf course in Millport, the island's only town. It's a great island to visit and just a short ferry voyage from Largs.
As a big collector of minigolf postcards I had to snap up this brilliant Valentine's "Silveresque" style postcard that shows the Crazy Golf course.
Crazy Golf, Millport, Isle of Cumbrae. A Valentine's "Silveresque" 3059V Style Postcard, published by Valentine & Sons Ltd. Dundee and London. Postally used at 4.15pm on the 4th June 1964 and mailed from Millport itself
The Millport Crazy Golf course was the 339th course played and 564th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. If you take a look at the course photos below you'll see that the course has changed very little since the 1960's. You can still see the very same hole layouts and obstacles!
Emily playing the three tunnel hole that you can see on the postcard
The toughest hole on the course was there in 1964 and it's still there now. You can see it in the background of the postcard
The double humps hole and the ramp & three holes hole can be clearly seen on the postcard
You can still purchase postcards of the course from one of the shops in Millport. We bought a stack of them to post to friends and family on our holiday.
A look at the Crazy Golf course in Hastings, East Sussex.
Emily playing hole 1 of the course
The 39th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour was the classic Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf in Hastings, East Sussex back on the 26th of October 2007. Since then we've returned for a number of minigolf, crazy golf and adventure golf competitions in Hastings each year and were recently in town again - this time for the 13th annual World Crazy Golf Championships.
Hole 2 at Hastings Crazy Golf
Here's a look at the course as at October 2015. It's well worth a play and is a great piece of seaside heritage.
The Lucky Last Hole where you can attempt to win a free game pass
Hastings Adventure Golf is also home to an Adventure Golf course and a Pirate Golf layout. Visit the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more details, opening times and prices.
