April 2008
Short Back and Sides as Maze Gets Spring Cut
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Jules Curtis Trims the Hedge Maze |
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The world famous Hedge Maze at Longleat has just undergone its final spring cut in readiness for welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors this season.
Made up of more than 16,000 English yew trees, with 2.72kms of pathways and covering an area of 0.6 hectares it takes a team of six gardeners one month to complete the clipping process.
Jules Curtis, one of the Longleat grounds team said, "It's got to be one of the biggest jobs in horticulture. We do two main cuts a year - one in the autumn and one in spring.
“Basically we start at the outside and gradually work our way towards the middle. At first it's easy to lose your way and you can end up wandering round in circles - in fact some of the new gardeners do complain about getting dizzy!
“It can take a couple of years to memorise the route in and out, although even then you do still have to keep your wits about you. Luckily the fact that we've all got ladders does help as we can always pop our head over the top of the maze
to get our bearings,” he added.
The Maze was commissioned by Lord Bath and designed by Greg Bright. It was laid out in 1976 and is planted entirely of English Yew (Taxus baccata).
A three-year restoration and maintenance project is also now complete. With six new wooden bridges it allows the maze to become three dimensional and more spectacular than ever. Built using Douglas Fir from the Longleat Estate, the bridges join the spectacular 25-tonne, 10m high tower which was incorporated into the maze design earlier in the project.
It held the world record for 25 years for the longest hedge maze and has been visited by more than five million people.
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