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The Cliveden Maze
I was told of this spectacular maze quite recently and felt you would would be interested to read a little about its origins and its resurrection. Ed. A ‘lost’ maze in the magnificent grounds of Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, which disappeared over 80 years ago, has been re-created using more than 1,000 two-metre-high yew trees. The ‘fully grown’ maze is based on one that was built for the 1st Lord Astor in 1894 but had all but disappeared. Lord Astor’s designs for the maze were discovered in the archives in 2005. Apart from a few surviving yew trees that provided the exact location of the maze, little else was known about the original. The new maze has been built as close as possible to the site of the original one. The new maze took two years to create, using over 1,000 metres of steel edging and 120 tonnes of gravel, to produce over 500 metres of path over one third of an acre, making it the same size as the world-famous Hampton Court maze. Finding enough fully grown yew trees to complete the maze was the most challenging part, but once a supplier was found all 1,100 12-year-old trees were planted in 20 days in October and November last year. Yew trees create great mazes because they readily form dense hedges and are easily clipped into shape. On arrival, each tree weighed approximately 60 kilograms, and four 40-foot articulated lorries were required to transport them. The ‘icing on the cake’ was the installation of the maze’s beautiful hand-forged wrought iron gates, created by Chris Collman from Burnham, who is known locally as The Wrought Iron Man. The gates have a strong Victorian influence and are inset with foliage and shield motifs. The Maze was officially opened on Friday 8 April 2011 by renowned gardener, broadcaster and writer Alan Titchmarsh. Lord Astor, whose great-grandfather was William Waldorf, the 1st Viscount Astor, was invited to be the first person to go into the new maze. Since ite opened in April, nearly 100,000 people have tried to solve it – although as it is much harder than it looks, not everyone has made it to the centre! Cliveden is open daily, 10am to 5.30pm until the end of October and 10am to 4pm until 23 December. For more information and admission prices visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cliveden or call 01628 605069. Fred Russell