Open from 10:00 daily
Wye Valley MINIATURE GOLF
Now with two great 12-hole courses:
NEW Indoor ADVENTURE GOLF
Play on our unique course inspired by our local legends from the time of King Arthur, Merlin the wizard and saints Dubricius and Gildas the Wise.
You’ll be playing around The Sword in the Stone, King Arthur’s Cave, Stonehenge, Merlin’s Cave, a sculpture inspired by Arthur’s rule of five kingdoms, the pulpit of Gildas the Wise, the tomb of Arthur’s successor Saint Constantine, Arthur’s Stone and The Grail Tabernacle. Keep your eyes open and you might see the red and the white dragons, the crown of Arthur and Robin Redbreast.
Find out about the local legends HERE
Outdoor MINIATURE GOLF
A roman ruin fantasy set in spectacular scenery in the Wye Valley, inspired by roman remains found further up White Brook and on the other side of the River Wye.
An outstanding outdoor course with all-weather artificial-turf fairways. The design unites a picturesque roman ruin theme, retro minigolf style and adventure golf features for ultimate playability for all ages.
Everyone loves the challenge of minigolf, and this course is a real leveller so you never know who’ll win. Where else can children beat their parents with a club in a fair contest?
Soft or short putters are available, so that even a toddler can play.
Local legends which inspired us
Merlin invented a challenge to help find a War Leader for the Britons - extract a sword from stone via an anvil. A twelve year old boy called Arthur was the only one to succeed. He was crowned at Amesbury by the patron saint of our parish church, Dubricius. Arthur first held court at Caerleon, where Dubricius again placed the crown on his head. There, Arthur’s guests played a new game, hitting balls with sticks, so maybe golf was invented at the court of King Arthur. These events are described as if they happened 1,500 years ago, but the found weapon motif is about metallurgy. It features in “Wayland the Smith” and “Theseus”, and is probably protoindoeuropean and about 7,000 years old.
Ambrosius Aurelianus and Uther Pendragon had vanquished Vortigern - who had invited the Saxons to Britain - on our nearest hill, raining fire on him from the heavens. Ambrosius sent Uther to take Stonehenge from the Irish, who had invaded Dyfed. Merlin used magic to move the stones to Salisbury Plain. Uther’s son, Arthur, dedicated the stone circle as a memorial to the kings who had fought in the war against the Saxons. Experts now say that the bluestones were probably in fact transported through our village from Presceli, and the altar from the Black Mountains or Brecon Beacons. So the story written by Geoffrey of Monmouth 900 years ago could have come from folk memory of an event which had actually happened, but 4,100 years ago.
The hill where Vortigern met his end - The Doward - has two caves: King Arthur’s Hall looks out across the saddle of the hill towards Caer Guorthegirnus (Vortigern’s Fort), and Merlin’s cave which looks out over the River Wye towards Yat Rock. One French version of “Lancelot” told that Merlin was besotted with a fairy - Viviane, Lady of the Lake. She wanted his magic and so agreed to live with him. Viviane frustrated Merlin with a spell tattoed on her… thigh. She kept the mad mage captive in a cave and repeatedly demanded his spell to put someone to sleep for eternity. He frustrated her plan for his demise by repeatedly teaching her other spells. Maybe these two tricksters deserved to be trapped together by their vows: Merlin had used magic to help Uther seduce Arthur’s mother, and Viviane helped Arthur’s wife to seduce Viviane’s adopted son, Lancelot. But in our village, the tale had a twist. It was said that there was a magic tunnel between Merlin’s Cave and King Arthur’s Hall. So… someone could sneak out, but who? This purgatorial story is like “The Arabian Nights” with a Dangerous Wife motif which Comparative Mythologists suspect refers to a Neolithic marriage ritual from about 45,000 years ago.
Arthur ruled five kingdoms of Britons. Gildas ranted from his pulpit about how its kings had ruined Britain and let it be conquered. He most despised Vortigern and Custennin Gorneu, known in English as Constantine of Cornwall. But around here he seems to have been identified as Custennin Genoreu… modern Ganarew, near where Vortigern had perished. When Arthur and Mordred fatally wounded each other at Camlan, Arthur trusted his crown to Constantine. Constantine murdered Mordred’s heirs in revenge - one at prayer in a London church, the other at a monastery in Salisbury. The king repented his sins and devoted himself to good works. He built Constantine’s Ford from Goodrich to Walford and became a monk. He lived at Hentland (Old Church) just across the Wye from Yat Rock. He was buried at Stonehenge and revered as a saint. The warrior-king-monk-saint narrative was common around 1,500 years ago - a brief period known as The Age of Saints. King Arthur was never canonised, but he was listed as one of “The Nine Worthies” - the three pagans, three Jews and three Christians who had most helped Christianity to flourish across Europe.
Arthur has a dolmen named after him near Dorstone - Arthur’s Stone - where he fought a giant. It is said that Arthur knelt on the capstone to pray for victory before the fight. If that didn’t crack the stone, it was cracked when the wounded giant fell on it. Arthur said that his hardest combat was against the giant Rein, who (Rhian Dremrudd of Brycheiniog) had a fort overlooking Hereford - Caer Rein on Aconbury Hill. In another version, Rhian Dremrudd emigrated to Brittany and was revered there as a saint - but then again, so was Vortigern. Such are the legends of The Matter of Britain.
King Arthur’s mother was here known as Eigyr, a descendant of Saint Joseph of Arimathea’s sister. Joseph had been a tin trader who’d brought his little nephew Jesus to Britain (this explain’s the hymn “Jerusalem”). Later, Joseph had taken on the burial of Jesus, and sent The Holy Grail to British Christians. Glastonbury’s monks claimed that Eigyr’s grandfather had been its guardian, so the Quest for The Grail is not a local tale and you won’t find the relic here. But the saint had once stuck his staff in ground near Glastonbury and it instantly took root and flowered - the Glastonbury Thorn. A sprig of the Holy Thorn was presented to King Charles I at Aconbury Hill one Christmas, and a scion of it near the Castle Inn - The King’s Thorn - bloomed every year on Twelfth Night and at Easter.
Go to TOP
Wye Valley Miniature Golf is within walking distance of Forest Holidays in the Forest Of Dean, between Monmouth and Ross on Wye, at Symonds Yat in the Wye Valley.