It’s time to get lost again – the Maize Maze at Red House Farm, one of the town’s best known summer attractions, opens today.
Created from over 500,000 maize plants, the six-acre Dunham field has once again been intricately planned and planted, based this year on the famous Blue Peter galleon.
Dunham Massey-born Jonny Hewitt, the self-titled “director of fun and chaos” who runs the farm, said the Blue Peter opportunity came about thanks to one of the BBC staff who had moved north to the corporation’s new MediaCityUK base.
He said: “One of my birthday party clients used to work within the Children’s department at the BBC, and so I asked her if she could get me into Blue Peter. She did and I pitched the idea to them – they loved it, and let us use the logo.”
Below: Jonny Hewitt at the maze
The maze has been an annual fixture since 2002, when the Commonwealth Games committee allowed the farm to use its logo.
Adrian Fisher, regarded as the world’s leading maze designer, has again been behind the project.
Hewitt explained how it all comes together. “Once the whole of the field is sown,” he said, “it’s like a giant dot to dot.
“We actually put the maze design into the GPS system used by building surveyors, and then it creates points that are numbered from 1 to 1400-odd. We use that to hoe out the crop to create the pathways.”
Blue Peter – the vintage BBC TV series famous for its “here’s one I made earlier” catchprase – has been heavily involved throughout, and has already been down for two sets of filming, with another scheduled later this month.
Hewitt explained that due to the elements, the maze was currently best suited to smaller children.
“The growth is a little bit behind this year because May and June were cooler,” he said, “it’s a crop that likes sun and heat, and when it gets that it will grow two or three inches a day.
“This opening weekend is ideal for bringing little kids because they can see where they’re going, whereas other people like to wait until it’s taller than me.”
He added: “The maze is just one of a whole load of different activities we have throughout the summer, so when people come to see the maze, there’s also the barrel train ride, inflatable slides, the climbing wall, bouncy castle, trampoline and pedal cars. We’ve also got a new activity this year – frisbee golf.”
Maize Maze 2015 is open every day from Saturday 18th July until Friday 4th September, plus weekends in September. Times: 10am – 6pm (last entry 5pm). Prices: £7.95 – Children (3-16); £6.95 – Adults (16+); £27.00 – Group of 4; £5.95 – OAPs; £5.95 – Disabled Guests (plus one carer free of charge); Free – 2 and under.
Below: The maze with Blue Peter logo as seen from a drone, and (bottom) the playground at Red House Farm
