Elvington Lane (B1228), York, YO19 5LT, just off the A1079 Hull Road
Open daily from Sat July 11 to Mon Sept 7 @ 10am-6.30pm
Adult £13.50, senior £13, children (3-15) £12.50, under 3s free, family £50
Five… four… three… two… one… York Maze is go!
Iconic sci-fi TV show Thunderbirds has been unveiled as the theme of the summer attraction, which opens on Saturday (July 11).
In the 50th anniversary year of the Gerry Anderson classic – filmed, as all of a certain age know, in Supermarionation – a giant version of spaceship Thunderbird 2 has been cut into the maize.
As always, the idea came from the fertile imagination of farmer and maze master, Tom Pearcy. He is a big fan.
As a child Thunderbird 2 captured my imagination, I think it’s the most iconic of all the Thunderbirds and being green it works perfectly carved into the field of maize plants!
Puzzle out of this world
York Maze is believed to be the biggest of its kind in Europe.
It has taken Tom and his team nearly a week to cut 3.7 miles of pathways through the growing crop of maize in the 15 acre field – the size of eight football pitches.
At 350m long, the Thunderbird 2 is more than four times bigger than the model in the show, and is probably the biggest TB2 every created.
As well as showing an outline of the Thunderbirds 2 ship, the maze bears the legend, Thunderbirds Are 50.
Anderson country
Sadly Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson is no longer here to see his vision writ large across Yorkshire. He died in 2012.
But his son Jamie was very pleased to be official guest of honour at the launch of York Maze 2015 on Thursday (July 9).
Jamie said:
I’m sure my father would have been thrilled to see this and he would have been particularly interested in the design process and how it has been carved into the field in such impressive detail.
Previous amazing mazes
The York Maze was first launched in 2002. Here are all the designs…
2003 Spiders Web
2004 Flying Scotsman
2005 Big Ben
2006 Star Trek
2007 James Bond
2008 Statue of Liberty
2010 Spitfire
2011 Harry Potter
2012 Mayan God of Corn
2013 Dalek & Doctor Who
2014 Yorkshiremen – Brian Blessed, Geoff Boycott & Jeremy Clarkson