Labyrinth

A labyrinth has, for many years been an important part of HESFES.

Each year a different one is chosen as that year’s logo and appears on our T-shirts, hoodies and posters etc.

In the past the labyrinth has been constructed on a beach (see picture on the right).

This year the labyrinth will be constructed using bent hazel sourced from a local Kent coppice.

This year's labyrinth is the 51ft lost turf maze that used to be situated on Blue Bell Hill near St. Anne’s Well, Sneinton, Nottingham.

This was called ‘Robin Hood’s Race’ or the ‘Shepherd’s Race’, and was a winding path cut into the turf.

Unlike hedge mazes, which are large-scale path-finding puzzles, the challenge of a turf maze is simply to walk or run the complete path.

There is a legend with ‘Robin Hood’s Race’ that it was walked by monks during their meditations, but this tale may be a Victorian invention. Unfortunately, this maze was ploughed up in 1797.