Swindon's latest tourist attraction is springing up from the ground and into life. The Great Western Maze is slowly taking shape in a field just south of Junction 16 of the M4 motorway.
The maze is made out of maize and has been designed by the Adrian Fisher Maze Design Company based in Dorset. Last year the maze was designed by plotting out the passages using satellite technology.
This year, the organisers are more confident of their design skills and are producing and plotting out the maze using more traditional methods.
Lynda Warren has been working in the field over the past weeks carefully removing the maize plants to create the maze paths.
She said: "We are around three-quarters complete here. Once we're finished here then we have to go on and finish the second maze near Bath. The Swindon maze is slightly larger, eight acres instead of seven, but disproportionately more difficult particularly now we have this 3D aspect."
The maize is currently just 15 centimetres (six inches) in height at the beginning of the growing season. Last year's maze was produced on a jungle theme, and from the air a monkey shape could be made out. There are no clues as to what this year's theme will be.
The Great Western Maze will open on July 11. Opening hours will be seven days a week from 10am to 6pm, with last entry at 5pm. The season runs from July 11 to September 7, but the maze will also be open on the weekend of September 13 and14.
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