Kendal Attraction’s Maze Challenge May Not be All Plain Sailing

The Lakeland Maze Farm Park, at Sedgwick near Kendal, 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.

The family farm park hopes 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 on which to enjoy life out on the water.

Those tackling the specially designed 8-acre maze must navigate through it and steer the right course, if they want to find their way out.

With 1.5-2.5 hours of this voyage of discovery being the typical time involved (although there are ways to request a speedier exit), explorers will be frequently changing tack, having hit a dead end. It might not be all plain sailing.

“As a famous fictional sailor, Captain Barbossa, said in the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End movie, ‘for certain you have to be lost to find a place as can’t be found’.  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,” says Lakeland Maze Farm Park owner, Graham Wadsworth.  “Getting lost is a big part of the fun.” 

The activity – and that of the smaller mini maze, themed as a medal and taking only 15-30 minutes to complete – is sure to lift visitors out of the doldrums, right through a summer in which sailors will be competing for major medals in both Paris and Barcelona.

The excitement and competitive spirit does not end there.  This year, the Lakeland Maze Farm Park has ploughed investment into yet another new feature.  This also has Olympic connotations, being a nod to the famous Swiss Cresta Run and a wooden toboggan ride.

Family members can grab a toboggan, sit atop and race each other down their respective tracks, to see who can arrive at the bottom first.  

This new ride sits alongside the Super Mega Ride and Slide, in which riders travel down a 150-foot slide in an inflatable ring.  The height requirement for tackling the Cresta Run is, however, 20cm less than that for the Super Mega Ride and Slide, at just 90cm rather than 110cm.

Should the British summer ever produce a heatwave, the Water Wars feature, in which participants have water battles galore, will really come into its own.

Kids obsessed with football, following the Euros, can find an outdoor football  area, whilst there is a plethora of other things to do outdoors, from Air Bouncers, real fire engine, karting and panel maze, to trampolines, zip wire and the ever-popular free tractor and trailer ride that tours Raines Farm and provides an insight into daily life there.

Indoors, there are also karts, coin-operated quad bikes, sand art, a Bunny Burrow tunnel maze, bouncy castle and under-3s soft play area, as well as Giant Lego for younger children.  

This is an attraction with a working farm at its heart, so the petting barn and animal demonstration area are another major element within a day out.  With cattle, sheep, pigs, ferrets, rodents, alpacas, llamas, goats, ponies and donkeys, children can really get to know some of the farm’s residents very well.

Graham Wadsworth says, “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.”

From July 17 when the maze opens, until September 3, the Lakeland Maze Farm Park is open every day, from 10am to 6pm.  Weekends-only opening, and daily October half-term opening, then follows. 

Admission costs £12.45 per person, if tickets are bought online, with concessions for seniors and carers (£8.45). On the door tickets are priced with a small supplement and under-2s enter for free.

Head to www.lakelandmaze.co.uk for more details.

Ends

Editors notes

The Lakeland Maze Farm Park is located at the gateway to the Lake District, in the village of Sedgwick near Kendal, just a few minutes drive from the M6 junction 32. Since opening in 2004, it has twice been awarded the Maze of the Year title, for its annual maize maze - spread over 8 acres and cut into 8-foot-high maize - and its min-maze. However, the park is much more than just the mazes, with animal petting, feeding and demonstrations, a daily tractor and trailer ride, Air Bouncer pillows, wooden panel maze, Water Wars water battle attraction, a 150-foot Super Mega Slice n Ride slide, karts, climbing wall, bouncy castle, indoor play area, outdoor ball game area, coin-operated quad bikes, vintage tractors and much more. Families can bring picnics and enjoy those indoors or outdoors.