Hampton Court Palace Maze
 

Anybody been through the maze? Is it difficult?

Yes and Yes. But lots of fun even for a 65 plusser.

My aunt and uncle live near Hampton Court and I have been through the maze with them, last time in 1986. They have been through it all their lives so it is easy for them to navigate. I found it annoying, a waste of time.

I did a few years ago, at first I thought it was fun. Then it started to rain and it was getting dusk and close to closing time, I started to get a little nervous as my friend and I were the only ones there. <BR>I thought the keeper would go home and shut us in and we would have to dig out under the shrubs or whatever they are. <BR>My friend did sort of panic and started calling out and the keeper came in and escorted us out.<BR>We sheepishly exited to the delight of some locals who were standing by the exit waiting to see who was doing all the yelling.

Hampton Court's maze is relatively compact, but it is a bit challenging. Maybe its the triangular shape that throws people off...<BR><BR>The rest of the grounds at Hampton Court are well worth exploring too.<BR><BR>

don't attempt the maze if you're in a hurry or closing time is near. it's challenging and fun, but time consuming!

Quite time consuming, but very fun (even if you are alone, as I was). I filmed my trip through... makes for a great laugh when watching it!

I am topping this thread.

Does anyone know a trick on how to get to the center and then out without getting lost to minimize "lost" time?

Yes, there's a trick. No I'm not telling!

Actually, it's a tough maze as it's multiply connected.

This plan will help

http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/maze/garden/index.htm#hamp

That's cheating :)

janisj, ;)
I wish we'd had the plan with us when my DS entered the maze solo (aged 10). My DH had to go in half an hour later to find him and bring him out (which took a while!).

Only 1/2 an hour? I took a couple of friends a few years ago -- didn't go in the maze myself since I've done it several times (and I don't do well trapped in a 'tunnel' w/ running screaming kids :) )

One of my friends had to be rescued and was in there more than an hour-- I had 2 ciders while waiting for her ((B))

Um, DS was 'lost' in the maze for half an hour before my DH tried to rescue him.
I can't remember how long exactly it took my husband to find him and haul him out because I wandered off but it was probably well over an hour.

A half day trip to Hampton Court can easily turn into a full day if you get lost in the maze!

Thanks sassy-cat.

Janisj, it might be cheating, but if it can potentially save some time then why not try it. Of course, we can still get lost even with the map! We will let you know how we did in our trip report when we get back.

Wow. The four of us went into the maze, and the whole thing -(in and out) took about 25-30 minutes. My son ran off ahead, with his little sister(6)running after him. He yelled at her not to follow him, she ran the opposite way and got to the centre first. Once she was there, she called out to us and we followed her voice. There was somebody working in the middle. They kindly took a picture of the four of us, and then pointed out to us the most direct route back. It was a lot of fun - no time stress at all!

Doesn't having a map defeat the object of a maze though?

We survived the HCP maze just a couple of weekends ago. Like poutine, we were in and out in under 30 minutes. In fact, my son (5) was a little underwhelmed. We have done hedge mazes before -- Hever Castle and Chatsworth -- and this was definitely the easiest.

Good Luck!

BKP, that's funny as my son had previously raced through both the mazes at Hever (and stayed dry through the water maze) and thought that he could do the same at Hampton Court. No such luck!

I went in the maze alone several years ago, and for me it was a bit scary. I have a pretty good sense of direction, so I thought I would be in and out in no time. No such luck.

I wandered around for about 45 minutes and I kept hitting dead ends. It was near closing time and starting to drizzle, and I started worrying that I would get stuck in there all night. Do they check for stragglers? Just about the time I was getting ready to start yelling for help, I ran into a man and his two kids who allowed me to tag along with them. He seemed to know waht he was doing, and he led us out in about 10 minutes.

I wouldn't do it again.