Are you someone who loves getting lost in a maze and solving your way out? Or perhaps you are someone who suffers from maze phobia, mazeophobia or mazephobia is the fear getting lost, in which case you might want to skip this article.
Mazes and labyrinths have been a popular source of fun since the Middle Ages, when nearly 25% of cathedrals had a labyrinth in their grounds. Completing a maze is more of a puzzle solving exercise, as they have several routes and can be rather tricky. Strolling through a labyrinth is seen as much more relaxing as it is just one path to the centre so technically, you canât get lost.
Whether you like the thrill of the winding passages or reaching a dead end and having to rethink your steps, they can be a great way of getting your mind engaged and have fun whilst doing so.
Join ±«Óătv Bitesize as we wander, and hopefully donât get lost, in some of the most amazing mazes across the globe.
Hampton Court Palace, Richmond upon Thames, UK
Fancy roaming around the UKâs oldest surviving hedge maze? Hampton Court Palace maze was commissioned around 1700 by King William III and designed by George London and Henry Wise.
On average it takes 20 minutes to complete and reach the centre of the trapezoid-shaped maze.
Itâs not just 18th Century kings and queens that love mazes. King Charles III is a massive fan of the puzzling trails having spent a lot of his childhood playing in a maze in Sandringham, Norfolk, UK and opened a new maze at Balmoral, the royal familyâs residence in Scotland, in 2024.
Yancheng Dafeng Dream Maze, Jiangsu, China
Opened in 2017, Jiangsu is home to one of the largest permanent hedge mazes in the world. The total length of the pathway is 9,457.36 m (31028ft 1 in), made up of 100,000 shrubs and it could take you hours to complete!
An aerial view of the park shows that the maze is in the shape of a giant elk, a member of the deer family. If visitors donât fancy this giant maze, the park is made up of smaller mazes as well, such as a glass maze and a childrenâs maze.
This puzzle also has observatory towers so visitors can get a good look at which path they might need to take.
Castlewellan Peace Maze, County Down, Northern Ireland
The Castlewellan Peace Maze opened in 2001. This meaningful maze represents a path to a peaceful future for Northern Ireland, which had previously suffered many years of violence.
At the heart of the maze is a peace bell, which visitors can find after they solve their way through the puzzle which takes approximately 40 minutes to complete.
The mazes is made up of 6,000 yew trees, the majority of which were planted by people from all over Northern Ireland. Nearly 4,000 school children helped to create the maze which encouraged a sense of common ownership.
Borges Labyrinth, San Rafael, Argentina
Located on the historic Finca Los Alamos estate is a memorial labyrinth which is spread out across over 66,000 square feet (6131.6 mÂČ) of land. Jorge Luis Borges was an Argentine author who was a founder of a literary and art movement that started in the 1950s.
Borges published âLabyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writingsâ in 1962, so it only seems right that he was remembered in the form of a labyrinth. Randoll Coate, who was a friend of Borges, created the labyrinth in 2003 and it is made up of over 12,000 hedges.
Fittingly, the labyrinth is shaped like an open book with the spine of the book running down the centre. In 2011, another maze dedicated to Borges opened on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.
Labyrint Drielandenpunt, Vaals, Netherlands
Have you ever entered a maze or labyrinth and been able to see three countries? If so then you may have been wandering around Labyrint Drielandenpunt in the Netherlands.
This labyrinth features a viewing platform where you can view the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
If you fancy taking up the challenge of completing this labyrinth, it takes on average 45 minutes to reach the centre.
The labyrinth takes the award for being Europeâs largest outdoor shrub maze, with British landscape artist Adrian Fisher using 17,000 hornbeam shrubs to create the space.
This article was published in October 2024
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