Puzzlewood – Tolkien’s Inspiration for Middle-earth

Puzzlewood – even the name conjures up images of ancient ents, elves, wizards and hobbits.  

You could easily be forgiven for thinking that you were lost somewhere in Middle-earth.  

Indeed John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was fascinated by the place and it is said to be a major stimulus for the imagination of the man who brought us Bilbo, Frodo and Gandalf.

Image Credit Flickr User Stuart Herbert

Image Credit Flickr User Trubble

You do not, however, have to be transported to another world to enjoy such Tolkien-esque landscapes for yourself.  Puzzlewood stretches over fourteen acres of the Forest of Dean in the English county of Gloucestershire (pronounced Gloss-ta-shire). Yes, it is even in a shire!

Harry Potter and the Mystifying Maze of York

OK, JK Rowling has not decided to write another instalment in the Harry Potter saga, but no doubt the sight of this will put a smile on her face.  A farmer in the English county of Yorkshire has created what, simply put, is the largest spot the difference competition on the planet.

Tom Pearcy (pictured above) is a great fan of Harry Potter.  He also loves mazes.  So, it only seemed logical for the farmer to take sharp implements to his crop of maize and do something a little different with it. Situated a short distance from the historic city of York the maze offers visitors something a little different to say the least.

Each of the heads has a diameter of over fifty meters, so Daniel Radcliffe can be firm in the knowledge of exactly where the largest images of him ever created are. There were over a million maize plants in the fields and the process, needless to say, was painstaking.


Above, Louisa Maher from Minster FM pops down to the new Harry Potter themed York Maze for 2011. Altogether there are over 10 kilometers of pathways within the maze and it opened to the public last weekend.  It is by far the largest maize maze in Europe and one of the biggest in the world.

For details of how to visit, please visit the York Maze website. Top two pictures courtesy of Tom Pearcy.