A Kendal farm park is getting Cumbria in the mood for two major sporting events – the Olympic Games and the Americas Cup – by theming its 2024 mazes around sailing and medals.
Lakeland Maze FarmPark, based in Sedgwick near Kendal, is hoping families will race to the gates at a rate of knots, having painstakingly used GPS technology to carve out a massive sailing ship in the centre of its 6-8-foot-high maize crop.
Visible from the air, the resulting design is a dramatic nautical reference on the landscape, in a county full of lakes and waters.
Those tackling the specially designed eight acre maze must navigate through it and steer the right course, if they want to find their way out.
The main maze takes around one and a half to two and a half hours to navigate (although there are ways to request a speedier exit) and explorers will have to frequently change tack, having hit a dead end.
The smaller maze themed as a medal, takes only 15 to 30 minutes to complete.
Lakeland Maze Farm Park owner, Graham Wadsworth, said: “We believe that being lost can take a family to a happy place that they might otherwise not discover, if they don’t throw themselves into the challenge. Getting lost is a big part of the fun.”
This year, the Lakeland Maze Farm Park has also ploughed investment into another new feature that is a nod to the famous Swiss Cresta Run and a wooden toboggan ride.
Families can grab a toboggan, sit atop and race each other down their respective tracks, to see who can arrive at the bottom first.
Graham added: “Visitors to our maze can channel their inner Ben Ainslie and plot a course that will keep family members occupied for a fair while.
“With so much else to do, and the opportunity to buy food and drink here and enjoy our indoor or outdoor facilities, or bring a picnic, there is every opportunity to really have a full day out.
“Every year, we focus on added value and our Cresta Run is yet another example of that. Most parents will not hear the dreaded words, “I’m bored”, if they have kids who can enjoy other things than screentime and who like letting off steam outdoors.”
