Treetop Adventure Golf, Leicester

We’re getting more and more city centre activities opening these days, and the latest is Treetop Adventure Golf in Leicester’s Highcross Shopping Centre. This family friendly venue boasts two adventure golf courses, a pizza shack and a fully stocked bar (where are all the half stocked bars is what I want to know….)

The Boy and I went to check it out. Mid-afternoon in the summer holidays, it was predictably busy with families having fun. However, it is well managed and we didn’t find it being busy impacted on our enjoyment. Once you have your putters and your balls, off you pop on the courses. We elected for the Ancient Explorers course, which had more than a flavour of the Aztec Zone in the Crystal Maze.

What’s it all about?

On the whole, it’s mini golf rather than crazy golf in spirit. Occasionally you may be surprised by your ball activating an animated character or element of the course, which is a nice touch. The holes are all pretty accessible for a range of ages, and it took us nearly an hour to get around the 18 holes of the course.

You’re looking at £9 a round, so relatively expensive in my opinion. I’d rather pay a fiver I think and not skimp on having a drink while I’m there. Get there before midday and you can play two rounds for the price of one, which is a bit better. Is my idea of what things should cost bang out of whack? Cos Caddyshackers is £10 and that’s a lot rougher around the edges…

This is a beautifully professional job. No sharp corners and supremely family friendly. Apparently there are free glitter tattoos on offer Thursday to Sunday so I am pretty bummed to have missed out on that. Don’t forget to have a go at the 19th hole where you can win your next round for free. We had a lot of fun playing, and then we tried out the snacks too!

Snack Time

For a family friendly attraction, there is a surprisingly adult friendly bar. When I asked about this, I was told it was because it helps create stories for guests. That sounds a bit romantic for me. I guess it’s mainly to help attract a daytime crowd in term time and an evening crowd up to the 11pm closing time. I was surprised to find a couple of Cachaças on the menu, with a page of their own. We tried them both and they were both of a very acceptable quality.

Drinkie-Poos

The Germana gold Cachaça was predictably the best, with 2 years in oak. There were some delicate herbaceous notes in there with a bit of fruit coming in later. A very nice sipping drink and no doubt a winner in a Caipirinha too. The cocktail offering is quirky in terms of presentation, but based on a solid foundation of classics.

I opted for the Mai Tai, mainly because it came in a small terracotta pot. Sadly the edible gold leaf promised on the menu did not materialise. However, the flavour was good with the earthy Pisco coming through the sweet fruitiness nicely, as well as a nutty backnote. Unfortunately things fell down a bit with the beer selection. We noticed a range of Thornbridge beers were available – and were told this was because they were local. They’re based in Derby – pretty sure Framework would be happy to bring a few bottles down from Friday Street… But I guess they are East Midlands AND non-beer folk have heard of them most importantly.

The Boy was offered a Lukas – Thornbridge’s Helles. It was then patiently explained to us that a Helles is a lager, but actually a lot of people make Helles and call them pale ales. When you’re drinking a pale ale you’re actually often drinking a Helles. This is utter tosh nonsense of the highest order of course, but true to form Thornbridge had produced a Helles with a nice weight and light sweetness true to the German style. We decided to overlook the spin, because sometimes you just can’t be bothered to argue.

We had some tasty nibbles when we were seated, and were shortly brought some pizzas. Here I do take umbridge. They make the dough themselves, with 00 flour, so that’s a start. However, they were mini flatbreads if anything. The feta and pesto was by far the best because that is a great combo of ingredients and there were plenty of them. The pepperoni was somewhat lacking. I’d probably eat before you go to be honest.

Fore!

We had a reet giggle on the way round the course. Definitely a lot of fun, and I think the more people you have in your group the better. They have a 6 shot maximum to keep play rolling. We really enjoyed the game, and the setting was pretty cool. It’s really nice to have something so immersive and well put together. And if you’re wondering, I won. Like, The Boy got trounced. Neither of us had a particularly impressive score to be fair.

But we both got a hole in one each. Which meant we got a sticker. Everyone likes stickers.

Thanks to Treetop Adventure Golf who generously gifted us this visit. As ever, my opinions are an honest reflection of my experience.