A Guiding Life

This year's maze design was a crown to mark the platinum Jubilee.

Cog was working so it was just HWMBO and me again this year.

We always walk every inch of path, marking it off with a highlighter pen as we go. We use the map without clues but that still has number baords shown, I've asked the owner if next year she will produce a completely unmarked map.

It was a very hot day, pushing 30C. I'm not as fit at the moment as I used to be and I found it hard going.

We were a bit early in the season for an abundance of sunflowers but there were enough to keep the bees busy.

The great thing about mazes like this is that they really 'swallow' up crowds. The car park was rammed but you rarely get into crowds in the paths.

There were many parts that were hardly walked at all.

As always my tips for visiting a maize maze are:

Call in advance, they will tell you how muddy (or not) the paths are and if you need wellies, trainers or sandals. And then stick all 3 in the boot anyway!

Take a small backpack, with waterproofs, hats, and bottles of water.

Take cash - ours is on a farm and this year for the first time they accepted cards but I still recommend taking cash or be prepared to drive a long way to find an ATM!

Take a couple of pens - they will charge you for a pen.

If you want to make it easier, take a highlighter pen and mark off the paths as you go round.

Ours is totally wheel chair and pushchair accessible unless it was really really muddy. They have lots of viewing platforms and helpers, you won't lose your children (for long) no matter how hard you try and they have quick exits so you can get out to the loos and then go back in again without having to walk a million miles.

At ours there are lots of other games and mini mazes to do as well, picnic tables and plenty of parking. It is an easy, fun day out and I thoroughly recommend it for a family few hours of togetherness and exercise....oh yes and yelling at each other debating about which way to go!

As maze post tradition now dictates, here is my maze gallery:

2021 - the Phoenix rising from the Flames after Covid, Me and HWMBO

End of season height, coats and lots of sunflowers

2020 - Not open because of Covid lockdowns.

2019 - Astronaut to mark 50 years since the first man on the moon.

HWMBO & I went

2018 - NHS Ambulance theme with Australian friends and Cog not long out of intensive care.

2017 - A hot year and a good crop

2016 was a bad year all round but points to us for still making the effort to go.

2015

This was a good crop year and a fun afternoon with friends.

2014
The weather couldn't make up it's mind, warm, sunny and wet at different points of the walk.

2013

This was the best crop they'd had in a long time.

2012
Dreadful crop year. But the sunflowers meant it was still well worth seeing.

2011

The owners said it was a bad crop year. It seemed pretty tall to me, but maybe it's about the size and number of the maize itself, not just the height of the plant.