Open from 10:00 daily Last entry 3 pm
Wye Valley MINIATURE GOLF
Now with two great 12-hole courses:
NEW Indoor ADVENTURE GOLF
Play on our unique course inspired by local legends surrounding King Arthur. Our course lies in the very shadow of the hill where Uther Pendragon first met Vortigern’s wizard Merlin.
You’ll be playing indoors from the Sword in the Stone to the Kings Thorne and the Quest for the Grail. Keep your eyes peeled and you might spot the red and the white dragons, the crown of Arthur and Robin Redbreast.
Find out about our local legends
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
The Sword in the Stone
On our nearest hill about 1,500 years ago, Ambrosius Aurelianus and Uthr Pendragon defeated Gwrtheyrn (Vortigern the Thin, in English) and caught his wizard Myrddyn in the fort which gives the hill its name,The Doward (from Llandougarth, “enclosure of two enclosures”). Vortigern was buried at Ganarew, where the church now stands. Myrddyn (Merlin in English) later used magic to disguise Uthr as his enemy Gorlois, so as to win the love of that duke’s wife. Eigr (Igerna or Igraine) welcomed Uthr very gladly, and so Arthur was born at Tintagel. Merlin arranged for the boy to be fostered, then twelve years later got him accepted as Uthr’s heir when the Arthur took out a sword embedded through an anvil into stone - symbolic of converting iron ore into arms. Merlin arranged a special coronation at Caerleon, and afterward the guests went outside to play a novel game of hitting balls with sticks… so Merlin invented golf.
King Arthur’s Hall
This cave is close to Gwrtheyrn’s Fort. The tale about the cave is not that Arthur sleeps there, but that Arthur’s treasure was in it, and there was a secret passage to Merlin’s Cave at New Weir, across the Wye from Yat Rock. We might expect the usual tale that the treasure had vanished when someone touched it - but no. But was it guarded by the usual dragon? Well, maybe: The leader of an army often had the title “Dragon”. In fact, Pendragon means “Chief Commander”. Now during a spell of peace, Prince Bedwini of Llandougarth was appointed by Arthur to be Bishop to his Court at Gelliwig near Caerwent. So was there a real treasure on The Doward that would merit a prince to guard it, a “dragon” who retired to become a priest? Yes: Iron ore, limestone and wood: There were at least three iron mines inside the fort, and Merlin’s Cave is above New Weir, where an ironworks became the biggest in Britain before the Industrial Revolution, supplying forges in Goodrich, Ross-on-Wye, Tintern and beyond. This heavy industry was supported by nineteen locks on the River Wye, and the first tourists in Britain came to watch its fires from across the river on The Wye Tour in the 18th Century.
The Assembly of Giants
Ambrosius sent Uthr to punish the Irish for invading Britain by plundering their stone circle, called Cor Gaure, from “Killaraus in Ireland”. Its name was deliberately ambiguous: Usually translated as Giants’ Choir, “Cor” could also mean assembly, ring… or dwarf). We call that circle Stonehenge, because the trilithons looked like the gibbets once used for hangings. In the story, Merlin moved Cor Gaure to Salisbury Plain, and rebuilt it as a monument to four hundred and sixty noble Britons who were massacred at a fake peace conference by the treachery of Hengist the Saxon. They welcomed the guests unarmed, and a Saxon sat next to each one at the table, but it had been built to hide their swords. Hengist stood to propose a toast - “Nimm euer Seaxes” (which means “Take out your swords”). All at once, each Saxon slew his guest. This was “The Night of Long Knives”, and it is the reason why, to this day, everyone in Germany keeps their hands above the table when dining with guests. In time, the brothers Ambrosius, Uther and Constance were all buried at Stonehenge with the victims of the massacre. In reality, the original bluestones had been quarried at Craig Rhos-y-felin and Carn Goedeg in Preseli, west Wales. That’s not Ireland - but it was an area of Irish settlement in the time of Ambrosius. The circle was initially erected at Waun Mawn in Preseli about 5,000 years ago, then moved by land six hundred years later to Salisbury Plain roughly along the route of the A40. So Geoffrey of Monmouth recorded a folk memory which was already 3,500 years old when he put pen to parchment.
The Fighting Dragons
Before the Roman invasion, King Lludd’s kingdom was invaded by Coriniaid (“the little people”, or maybe “the [secret] circle”). The Britons were deeply troubled by them - from whom they could keep nothing secret – and by an awful shrieking every May Eve, and by nightly theft of court food. Lludd went to consult his brother King Llefelys, mid-Channel, between their kingdoms. They used a magic speaking-tube so they couldn’t be overheard, but a demon made each think that the other’s words were hateful, so the two fleets nearly went to war – until they stopped using the tube. Llefelys advised ridding Britain of the Coriniaid with a poison made from crushed insects; He said that the screams were from fighting worms, and advised trapping them with a butt of mead and burying them; And Lludd should bait a trap for the thief, and keep himself awake by taking cold baths. Thus the three plagues were ended.
Four hundred years later, after the Romans had come and gone, the buried worms were dug up by Merlin. He used their fighting to prophesy conflict between Britons and Saxons, and so Vortigern made him his wizard - instead of his sacrifice. Lludd and Llefelys is the oldest identifiable Brythonic folk tale. Digging worms from the ground to see if they would fight may well have been a method of divination; The shrieking seems to have stood for rumours of war at the start of the annual campaign season, and the cursed tube stood for distrust. And worms becoming dragons? Too much mead leads to tall tales. Ask any angler on the banks of the Wye.
Merlin’s Cave
A norman story came to Britain: It told that Merlin fell in lust with the Lady of the Lake, Vivianne. She couldn’t stand him - he was old and she was only twelve - but she wanted to learn all his magic. The deal was done, and she being a fairy and he the son of a demon, naturally they agreed to live underground - but she had a secret plan. Imagine his dismay when, at the very moment of great promise, he discovered magic words tattooed on her [insert bowdlerism, e.g. “thigh” or “ring”]. He lost his mind, so she chained him up - but kept nagging him for a spell which would put someone to sleep for ever. Being a prophet, he knew who’d be the victim, so he taught her other magic (A wizard boring his wife to sleep is a VERY ancient theme). So… he who helped Uther break his marital vows and have an affair with Igraine - and she who would help Guinevere break her vows and have an affair with Lancelot - broke faith and so became locked in a purgatorial relationship from which they could not escape. BUT what of the local tale of the secret tunnel to King Arthur’s Hall? It finishes the Norman tale: Merlin had to escape, because he’s buried at Mynydd Ferthin near where the two had first met, the Siege Dolorous (“Seat of Sadness”) at Ewyas Harold; and the childless Vivianne had to escape too, to go on to foster Lancelot.
Harmony of the Britons
Arthur is not a historic person, but if kings were known by titles rather than names in what is now South Wales, the Forest of Dean and Herefordshire, we might know what inspired the folk tales: The historic kingdoms of the Silures tribe were united with the Cornovi and Demetae tribes through conquest and marriage. Their kings had a tradition of electing an Ameraudur (Commander in Chief).
Now, Gwrtheyrn was Cornovian, with a power base in Gloucester. He usurped the rule of southern Britain after the Romans left, but then couldn’t fight off invasions from Irish, Picts, Angles and Saxons. Following Roman tradition, he recruited Jutes as mercenaries in return for the land of Kent. When he didn’t pay them, they brought over an invasion force. It all led to civil war. King Tewdrig (Theodoric) of Glwysing and Gwent was Silurean. He subjugated the Irish in Dyfed, beat the Saxons back, won the civil war, then retired to monastic life at Tintern for thirty years. Called again to war, he beat a Saxon army at Pont y Saeson but died during evacuation to Flat Holm. He was buried near Caerwent at Mathern, and made a saint. His son Meurig had married Onbrawst, the great granddaughter of king Peibiau of Ergyng, so Meurig ruled a Cornovian kingdom too (now South Herefordshire and the Forest of Dean, with a capital at Ariconium, now Weston-under-Penyard). Tewdrig had appointed Meurig to be king of Dyfed (a kingdom of the Demetae tribe). Meurig was also Stater (aide-de-camp) to his own son Athrwys, who was Ameraudur. Meurig got so sick that he had to be carted into battle and was known as “the half-dead king”. Athrwys inherited kingdoms from Tewdrig and Meurig, and maybe the part of Pengwern ruled from Caer Magnis (Kenchester) near Hereford. His youngest son, “Black” Morgan Mwynfawr (the Benefactor) was educated by Gwalchmai (Sir Gawain) and became heir to Athrwys. Morgan renamed his kingdom “Morgannwg”. The dynasty ruled there until the time of King Athelstan II.
The Rant of Gildas the Wise
Gildas was a real monk who’d trained under St. Illtyd and lived on Flat Holm. He wrote a famous sermon, ranting about the kings of the Britons and blaming them for the ruin and conquest of Britain. It is the only surviving history from the time - about 567 AD. He didn’t name Arthur, but raged about his successor Constantine (identified as Cystennin Gorneu) in the excerpt pinned to the wall here. The meaning of “Gorneu” is usually translated as Cornwall, but could just as well have meant Genoreu (modern Ganarew, about a mile from here), or it may have meant Kernyw, meaning “of the Cornovi (tribe)”. Gildas eventually left for Glastonbury and then Brittany, along with many Britons who founded Brittany, taking tales of Arthur with them. These Breton stories of Arthur came back to Britain with the Normans five hundred years later, and Geoffrey of Monmouth combined them with Welsh lore in “Historia Regium Britanniae” which includes the earliest surviving Arthurian narrative.
Constantine the Tyrannical Whelp
King Arthur defeated Medraud (Mordred) at Camlann (in north west Wales). The injured Arthur entrusted his crown to Constantine. Later, consumed by vengeance, Constantine disguised himself as an Abbot to assassinate one son of Medraud at prayer in a church in London, and the other in a monastery at Winchester. Shamed by Gildas, King Constantine abdicated to become a monk. He founded the old church (Hen Llan) at Hentland in Mainaur Garth Benni (Goodrich, two miles from here) on land given to the church by king Peibiau the Dribbler. He also built the crossing over the Wye to Walford - “Constantine’s Ford” - which was used for 1,300 years (the Normans later built Goodrich Castle to guard it). Three years after his abdication, allies of Mordred murdered Constantine. He was buried at Stonehenge beside the other heroes of the war against the Saxons, and was venerated as a saint.
Arthur’s Stone
The young Arthur had fought a giant on Merbach Hill near Dorstone, during which the capstone of the dolmen got cracked. The battle was celebrated annually by a fair there until the mid 19th century. The giant may have been “Retho” (Rein Dremrudd of Brycheiniog, whose fort - Caer Rein - was on Aconbury Hill overlooking Hereford). Rein had challenged Arthur after the upstart youth had humiliated King Peibiau of Erging and his brother King Nyniaw. Arthur yoked them to plough like oxen for going to war over sheep grazing on the Black Mountains, so Peibiau the Leper became known as Peibiau the Dribbler. Arthur took the vanquished Rein’s mantle – made from the beard-pelts of the giant’s defeated enemies - as a trophy to wear at his coronation at Caerleon, where he was crowned by Dyffrig, the grandson of Peibiau who’d cured the king of leprosy and is the Patron Saint of this parish (a.k.a. Dubricius or Tiburcius in Latin, Devereaux in French). Dyffrig abruptly resigned his post and wisely became a hermit on Bardsey, the isle of bards.
The Kings Thorne
The Tudor monarchs claimed descent from Arthur, and the Stuart dynasty after them. Charles I styled himself “Arthur Redivivat” and arrogantly using Arthur’s Stone as a dining table in 1645. A sprig of The Holy Thorn was sent to reigning monarchs by the monks of Glastonbury every Christmas (and still is). One sprig, “the Kings Thorne”, grew near The Castle Inn at Little Birch on Aconbury Hill, where Roundheads met resistance from Royalists during the Siege of Hereford. The king was martyred for his belief in The Divine Right of Kings, but the King’s Thorne flowered for an hour at midnight on every Twelfth Night (“Old Christmas”) - during which cattle knelt in their byres in his memory – and it bloomed again at Easter. Monarchy was restored after the disastrous Commonwealth government and two civil wars, and celebrated on Oak Apple Day. The Kings Thorne survived for three and a half centuries and was a scion of the Holy Thorn which had sprung from the staff of Saint Joseph of Arimathea, a tin trader who’d known Jesus, brought His relics to Britain, built the first church in the world at Glastonbury, and converted a British king, Arviragus. Eventually, Constantine the Great - a Romano-Briton who was declared Roman Emperor in York – legalised Christianity in 313 AD. This tradition explains William Blake’s lyrics of the hymn “Jerusalem”, and why our Monarch has the title “Fidei Defensor” (Defender of the Faith) – and why King Arthur was one of “The Nine Worthies” (three heathens, Jews and Christians through whom Christianity flourished). Although Celtic Christianity was dissolved in this area in 777 A.D., belief in this story lived on.
The Quest for the Holy Grail
West Midlands Constabulary went on a fruitless quest for The Holy Grail in 2014 after it was stolen from Weston-under-Penyard near Ross-on-Wye. A woman there had been lent Cwpan Nanteos for a cure. It was a mazer bowl (or “loving cup”) saved from Strata Florida by its monks when Henry VIII had dissolved the abbey. Treasured for 400 years by the Jones and Powell families of Nanteos in west Wales, some believe it to be the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus at The Last Supper which had been sent to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea after he’d arranged the funeral of Jesus. The Dingestow Brut manuscript tells that Eigr, Arthur’s mother, had been a descendant of Joseph’s sister, and her grandfather had once been Custodian of The Grail, which explains King Arthur’s obsession with finding the lost relic. Cwpan Nanteos was handed in anonymously after eleven months and is now curated by the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth.
“Be bow bended
My tales ended
If you don’t like it
You may ‘mend it.”
- from “Jack the Giant Killer”, trad., Herefordshire 1909
“It is all true, or it ought to be; and more and better besides. And wherever men are fighting against barbarism, tyranny, and massacre for freedom, law and honour, let them remember that the fame of their deeds, even though they themselves be exterminated, may perhaps be celebrated as long as the world rolls round. Let us then declare that King Arthur… slaughtered innumerable hosts of foul barbarians and set decent folk an example for all time”.
- Winston Churchill
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