This unique construction of locally grown and harvested willow, precision built to an exacting design, was conceived to add an extra attraction to the world famous Swannery at Abbotsbury. The original idea grew into the spectacle seen on site today: six egg-shaped igloos (the number of eggs normally found in a clutch of swan’s eggs), mark the entrance to the maze, all interlinked to make a fun house. Then into the maze and at its centre there is a central ovum-shaped dome with a ‘sky hole’, again shaped like an egg. 

The trail through the maze has six clues, each delivering a message about conservation and the natural habitat, and resulting in a word that, if correct, provides the visitor with a future free visit. To construct the maze The Company of Landscapers had to learn a new skill – basket weaving – and work within a specific time frame to ensure that the willow poles and whips would ‘strike’. There has been an almost 100 per cent success rate so that later this year, and certainly next, the willow hedges that form the maze will be impenetrable and mask the route to its centre.