A Guiding Life

(Tune: She’ll be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain)

Can a women fly an airplane? Yes she can, yes she can.
Can a women build a building? Yes she can, yes she can.
Can a women fight a fire?
Can a women change a tire?
Can a women lead a choir? Yes she can, yes she can!

Can a woman be a lawyer? Yes she can, yes she can.
Can a woman fix an engine? Yes she can, yes she can.
Can a woman be a drummer?
Can a women be a plumber?
Can she play ball in the summer? Yes she can, yes she can!

Can a woman be a doctor? Yes she can, yes she can.
Can a woman drive a tractor? Yes she can, yes she can.
Can a woman lead a nation?
Can she run a TV station?
Can she head a corporation? Yes she can, yes she can!

Just you wait until we’re older, then you’ll see
We’ll be women in tomorrow’s history.
As we grow up through the years
We can sing out loud and clear.
Can we start the process here?
Yes we can! Yes we can!

Source https://dnowicki123.tripod.com/id127.html#_Toc313048735

We have visited the local maze every year since it opened, we always walk every inch of path, marking it off with a highlighter pen as we go. We use the 'hard' map without extra clues.

We were talking to the young adults that were working there about the crop quality and said it was the worst we'd seen since 2007 and then I was struck with the though they probably weren't alive then!

This year the theme was 'Olympics' and the maze was a javelin thrower.

Cog has her hands full with tiny, and not yet walking feet, so HWMBO and myself were alone again.

We went end of season and the crop was still low, thin and was breaking easy. The farmers are not going to make any profit this year.

I picked a bag of litter as we walked around, I still do a lot of litter picking so it seemed right and proper to do so here. Although I suspect HWMBO was getting annoyed as he nearly fell over me each time I stopped with no warning to pick something up!

Maybe that's why he suggested we separate to cover some of the paths a little quicker!

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 now takes card payments by preference, but occassionally the wifi is not great so 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 is 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:

2023 'marine life at risk' good high crop. (mini-cog was teeny tiny)

2022 Platinum Jubilee. A very hot day, 30C

Me and HWMBO (Cog was working)

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.