Scotland welcomes first ‘monster maze’

Girvan’s Woodland Farm has created the first environmentally-friendly maze in the West of Scotland. The Scottish “monster maze” has excellent "green" credentials, as it's the only fully-recyclable visitor attraction!

Woodland Farm Director Michael Forbes explained: "Our maize maze is set to be a big Ayrshire tourist attraction, appealing to young and old alike, and will help to put Girvan back on the tourist map.

"It's funny how something that started over three thousand years ago in Crete should be so popular in the twenty-first century."

A maze is a puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route.

Michael explained that a maize maze is a visitor attraction cut from a large field of living maize plants. Each year the maze design changes, giving visitors a new challenge and a unique image in the landscape, meaning no two mazes are ever the same.

The Woodland Farm maze covers about two hectares and has approximately four kilometres of pathways inside.

"Our fun theme is 'A Monster Hunt in a Monster Maze' and it's designed to appeal to the young…and the not so young," said Michael.

"The story is that Farmer Forbes needs your help! A band of stinky 'Junk Monsters' has appeared at Woodland Farm. These pesky polluters have evolved from a Junk Pile down the road and they have been causing havoc in the farmyard.

"Farmer Forbes has chased them into the maize field where they are trapped inside the maze. He needs your help to track them down so they can be recycled into something useful! Kids have got to help find out where they get their power from and locate the 'Big Boss' Junk Monster on the Farm."

He went on: "As well as the maize maze to explore, we've got many other attractions such as our farm shop, restaurant, farm animals and of course our new 16-room boutique hotel."

Fellow Director Gillian Forbes took up the story: "If you haven't been to a maize maze before, you'll be amazed at what a great fun day out they offer, for a family, for friends or for your school or group. We're also planning exciting things such as evening 'Torchlight Mazes' and even scary Hallowe'en Nights!

"And at the end of the season, the maize crop is harvested for animal feed so a maize maze truly is the only fully recyclable visitor attraction. How green is that?"

The maze has been devised by Somerset specialists Mazescape, the largest maize maze design company in Europe, whose mazes combine complex three-dimensional puzzles with beautifully-crafted images and fun-themed quiz trails to complete along the way.

It's the latest visitor attraction by the Forbes family who opened the £1m Woodland Bay Hotel in July.

Woodland is located on an 800-acre "Site of Special Scientific Interest" (SSSI) representing the best of Scotland's natural heritage. SSSIs are "special" for their plants, animals, habitats, rocks and landforms.

It has been in the Forbes family for several generations. A restaurant and coffee house, a farm shop, a BHS-approved livery yard and a fully-stocked trout fishing pond are established parts of the business which attracts in excess of 120,000 visitors every year.

The first maze was found in Crete about 1250 BC and showed the Minotaur - a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man - in the centre. Other maze designs from ancient times have been found in Scandinavia, Arizona, Mexico and India.

The Monster Maze is open daily from 10.00am with last entry at 7.00pm. Woodland Farm is two miles south of Girvan on the A77.

For more information log on to woodlandfarm.co.uk.