Mazes and Labyrinths

As a contrast a maze has branches, normally about seven or eight branches will be adequately difficult.

If you are building one in your garden, you need not have "walls" or hedges. You can have lines of stones and walk on the paths between. Or set pavers into the grass and walk on the dry. Or do as we have done at Palatine School, remove the turf with a turf cutter and fill the space with wood chippings

On our labyrinth you can take the short cut to the centre, but that is cheating. You should do the Whole Monte:
. From the start walk round to the North West tree (65 yards).
. Then walk all the way back to the North East Tree (70 yards).
. Now three circuits to the South West Tree (165 yards).
. Then a short walk round the South East tree (30 yards).
. And a final walk round to the centre (50 yards).

Background Reading
An excellent site on mazes is by Adrian Fisher on www.mazemaker.com There are many books on mazes, and I am sure lots of other entries in Yahoo. Try these books for a start:

Secrets of the Maze - Adrian Fisher and Howard Lozton - 14.95 UKP. Thames and Hudson. An interactive guide to the world's most amzing mazes, includes transparent sheet to draw on when you are exploring mazes in the book.

The Art of the Maze - Adrian Fisher and Geor Gerster UKP-12.00 from Adrian Fisher Maze Design, Victoria Lodge, 5 Victoria Grove, Southsea, Hants UK 01705-355500