Liz Coates The fallout of the early summer's nice weather is still being felt at Hemsby's maize maze where the tourist attraction is proving popular in its first “real” year of operation.

Liz Coates

The fallout of the early summer's nice weather is still being felt at Hemsby's maize maze where the tourist attraction is proving popular in its first “real” year of operation.

The 12-acre scheme is the brainchild of Ormesby St Margaret farmer Richard Hirst who planted 250,000 maize plants to create the maze which features an Indiana-Jones style quest, all mapped out using GPS and a roller to mark the paths.

He said: “It's the second year that we have done it but the plants have grown much better this year. They need warm sunny weather and that is what we had more of in June and July.”

He estimated it took around an hour and a half to two hours to negotiate the leafy warren and collect the 11 stamps of ancient symbols. The aim is to find the crystal cob and unscramble the letters to discover where the cob is made.

The maize is forage maize that will be harvested and fed to dairy herds in Stokesby. Also on the site is a play area with go karts, trampoline, swings, hay-bale mountain, space hopper racing, foot ball game and refreshments.

Amelia and Isobel Rees from Ormesby and Travis and Ebony Halladay from Hopton had plenty of time to work out some amazingly corny puns as they made their way round the maze. For an extra pound they could have cracked open a cheats' map which is issued on entry but in all the muddle found themselves emerging from the confusion of cobs into the play area where they were happy to stay while their parents sipped tea.

The maze is open seven days a week from 10am to 6pm until September 7.