OPERATING times for Barnard Castle’s popular mini-golf course have been revised after an experiment to extend daily opening to take into account the Scottish school holidays did not prove a success.
The course, on Scar Top, will reopen for the season on Friday, March 30, before closing on Sunday, October 28. During that period, the course will be open every weekend, on bank holidays and daily during local school holidays.
Last year, the main summer opening was extended from six to eight weeks to see if the course would attract visitors in the area from north of the border.
That has now been scrapped and the course will be open daily for the six-week local school holidays.
The mini golf is operated by Barnard Castle Town Council and Cllr Roger Peat, chairman of the services committee, said: “It did not work out with the Scottish holidays.”
Committee members were told low season opening times – March 30 to May 25 and September 3 to October 28 – would be 10.30am to 4.30pm. The course will be open from 10am to 6pm in peak season.
Since the town council oversaw a major revamp of the course, it has attracted thousands of visitors and become self funding.
A team of five attendants are based at the kiosk, which doubles as a leaflet distribution point for Visit Durham.
In an effort to increase the number of visitors, the town council is to spend £50 on a banner advertising the mini golf which will be hung in the frame due to be erected at the entrance to Scar Top when it is not being used to promote other events in the town.
The town council has also agreed to spend up to £1,215 installing an electricity supply to the kiosk. The work should be completed in early March, members of the services committee were told.
