Meet Adrian Fisher - Master of The Mirror Maze

King Arthur's Mirror Maze

"If stately homes and castles did not have lead roofs, which are so expensive to maintain, I am convinced there would be twice as many mazes", says Adrian Fisher the world's leading authority on mazes. 

"Accordingly, aware that Alexander Lord Bath (pictured left with Adrian Fisher) has five acres of lead roofs, I had always approached the Longleat estate with trepidation," he continues.

"How could the frivolity of a maze compete with the financial burden of such extensive maintenance?" - that was the real issue.

Imagine You Are A Knight On A Quest...

Fortunately Alexander Bath is a great maze enthusiast - before he succeeded his father as Lord Bath, he had commissioned Greg Bright in 1974 to create a hedge maze at Longleat of unprecedented size and complexity.  

King Arthur's Mirror Maze, which opened in 1998, was the fifth maze on the estate at Longleat.

Visitors are invited to imagine they are knights who have set off to perform a quest. On their journey through the dark forest, they encounter Excalibur, the sword in the stone, which mysteriously appears, rises, rotates, descends and disappears from sight.  The half-hidden faces of Green Men stare out at them from the branches of trees. 

Lightning And Thunder Echo Around You...

Wild sounds, and the occasional tolling of a bell, ring through the forest. Fog swirls around visitors as they penetrate deeper into the unknown. 

Lightning and thunder echo around them. They reach a ruined chapel. The Round Table, symbol of their noble order, can be seen suspended between gothic arches.  The thunderstorm continues to rage, seen through a stained glass window.

Finally within the chapel, they may find the Holy Grail, but only if they are pure in heart (or know how to make it appear)!

 Conjuring The Holy Grail

This maze was a breakthrough in mirror maze design, in part because the layout of the mirrors departs from the traditional arrangement of equilateral triangles, to produce a remarkable effect, which eliminates long straight arcades of arches.

Green Men - ancient woodland spirits - haunt the impressively three-dimensional trees, while the final goal of the quest - a ruined Gothic chapel - creates a wonderful sense of place.  Mirror mazes offer a perfect immersive environment, which is taken to a new extreme in this maze.  At the very end, the visitor conjures the Holy Grail...

Watch a video featuring King Arthur's Mirror Maze and meet Adrian Fisher - Master of the Mirror Maze.

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