I hadn’t heard of Thornton Abbey Maize Maze before so when they got in touch and asked if we’d like to visit I jumped at the chance to try somewhere new. I was very glad they did because we had a really good family day out!
The maize maze is part of a farm in Northern Lincolnshire located opposite the historic Thornton Abbey near the village of New Holland (over the Humber Bridge, through Barton and Barrow), it took us around 30 minutes to drive there from Hull. The farmer has drilled a fantastic, large maze into one of their maize fields and added lots of fun activities to do in the next field as well. You need to hurry though, its only open until the 6th September before the crop is harvested. If you miss out though they are also growing a field of pumpkins which will be ready in October for you to go into the field to pick your own then carve it on site (we had a sneak preview of these baby green pumpkins while we were there!).
We started with the activities in the field, all well spaced out and it was very quiet when we got there at 10am. Both of my children are obsessed with the bouncy pillows that a few attractions have at the moment so were delighted to see that as we arrived and went straight on for a bounce. They also loved the track with carts on (which were very fast!) and the big slide. My kids then found the duck racing and spent ages on that racing each other and us, we got very competitive!
They have just added a mini crazy golf section so we went to play that next, starting with the Humber Bridge hole! We also played table tennis and badminton then tried their giant jigsaw, much trickier that it looked but we refused to give in and cracked it eventually.
We had taken a picnic with us so we had that before tackling the maze, there are lots of picnic benches to use. The maze was by far the best I’ve ever done. It was HUGE and you really couldn’t see over the top to cheat, it was also a very complex set of paths, twists and turns; there was one point when I didn’t think we’d make it out! As well as just walking through it to find a middle like some mazes we’ve done, there was a really good trail to do inside. We had to find 8 boards with letters on to unscramble a place and answer questions at each one. To tie in with the new crazy golf, the trail was golf themed and it made for a really fun walk through the maize.
Overall I was really impressed with the day out. We spent around 4 hours there and could have easily stayed longer, there was plenty to do and it was all included with the entry price so there were no extra costs. Its £7 per adult and £6 per child (under 3s free) which I thought was good value. There was also a good, clean toilet block (with one of those cubicles that has an adult toilet and a smaller child’s toilet in one which is so useful when taking a child to the toilet with you!).
We did a lot of walking and my children came home shattered but they both said it had been a really good day out. I found it especially good for my older child who’s 9 and starting to find some of our usual days out a bit young for him now; the maze was a real challenge for him, the trail clues got him thinking and the activities like golf, table tennis and badminton appealed to him. Its good for younger ones too, there was a sandpit with toys for little ones and the bouncy pillow was great for all ages.
We ended up carrying on to Cleethorpes for a walk on the promenade and an ice cream and made it a long, full day out on the south side of the river.
Thornton Abbey Maize Maze is open 10am-5pm daily until 6th September 2020 (then back again in October for PYO Pumpkins). Find it at Abbey Farm, Thornton Abbey, Ulceby, North Lincolnshire, DN39 6TU. More details on their website here, or please email thorntonabbeymaze@gmail.com or call 01469 540230.
