The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre, just north of Preston, is a pure feast for the eyes as well as being the home to some of the most fun and unique activities.
As you walk in, you’re greeted by purple haze of light, filled flowerbed, and giant trees with their branches laden with a thousand sparkly lights. The flower theme is “blooming” everywhere. Even in the bathroom, you can wash your hands in flower shaped sinks.
For us living in Mid Cheshire, this was an hours drive to get to, but it was definitely worth it for a special visit. The range of activities include;
- Bowling
- Curling
- Adventure golf
- Virtual Golf
- Crazy Pool
- Cinema
- Shuffleboard
- VR Jungle Ride
Adventure Golf at The Flower Bowl
First on the activity list for us was the Secret Garden themed Adventure Golf course. This is an inside golf course….or is it? With a retractable roof, this golf course can be played whatever the weather. This makes the Flower Bowl a great place to visit when the British weather is its usual wet self.
Set inside a garden centre tunnel, you will find the most flowery golf course you have ever seen. With secret doors within walled gardens, waterfalls, and even a Putting Shed. Most of the holes are a simple green course going around a corner or through a gap. But there are a few really good holes.
The best one is where you hit your ball into a windmill, it’s lifted up, and then can come down a number of different routes. All our balls came down a different way, some creating music and others sliding around a totem pole. This was really fun and made the girls squeal in excitement.
It was a classic 18 hole game which took us as a family of 4, an hour to play.
Curling at The Flower Bowl
Another activity we tried was curling. As we are complete newbies and it was the summer holidays they had the perfect session for us. “Mini Curling” . Mini curling gives you a taste of the game but without any complicated rules!
Maximum of 5 players per ice sheet – 1 hour session with approximately 45 minutes on the ice.
Their Olympic-sized rink with four ice sheets is open to all ages and abilities. The curling rink is completely wheelchair friendly, too. They offer guided sessions and coaching tailored to you, or you can simply have a go as a family like we did.
As it was our first experience of curling, we were possibly under dressed. It’s cold on the ice, so if you’re planning to go, I would recommend wearing full-length trousers and a jumper. This aside, it was such a different and interesting activity to have a go at. They provide shoes with magic rubber discs on the sole so you dont slip over. These are amazing, and we didn’t ever feel like our feet would slip the whole time.
There was a member of staff on the ice at all times to explain how to play and help if needed. Our family split into 2 teams and took it in turns to push the 44 lb stone over the ice. The aim was to get the closest to the puc at the other end of the ice, but without going out of the area. It’s actually quite tricky, but we definitely got better as we played. It takes a certain amount of push to get it to stop where you want it to.
The competition grew stronger as we got better. We swapped around our teams a couple of times, so sometimes it was kids v adults, or each adult took a child. We could talk and discuss the game as we played and therefore found it a really sociable activity to do.
Eating Out at The Flower Bowl
The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre has a range of options eating out. After our busy morning or family fun, we went to The Ocean Fish & Chip Restaurant which is right next door. They do the best chips! Check out my fish & chip restaurant review.
