Prepare to be a-maze-d
THE famous Grade II-listed maze at Glendurgan Garden in Cornwall—planted in 1833 by Alfred and Sarah Fox to keep their 12 children entertained—has emerged, shiny-leafed, from a four-year restoration funded by donations, legacies and raffle-ticket sales, with support from Barclays Bank.
Inspired by the labyrinth at Sydney Gardens in Bath, which Jane Austen once frequented, but which no longer exists, the maze at Glendurgan—the name is derived from Cornish meaning ‘deep valley of otters’—is ‘a series of irregular, winding walks that remind us of life, where we may go wrong in a multitude of ways, but right in only one’ (The Bath Weekly Chronicle and Gazette, 1930s). Its appeal has lasted far longer than the childhoods of the Fox brood, attracting some 85,000 visitors a year today, but the tread of feet in a wet climate took their toll. By 2015, pathways had deteriorated and waterlogged soil had destroyed many of the 19th-century cherry laurels.
‘The vision behind the renovation was to upgrade and refresh this much-loved feature of the garden,
