Pupils enjoy 'amaizing' fun as new dino maze is unveiled at Skylark in Wimblington

Children from a local school were involved in a dinosaur hunt on today (Thursday) when the Skylark Garden Centre launched this year's maize maze attraction.

The centre on Manea Road, Wimblington, invited pupils from Guyhirn CofE School to help launch the maze which has seen a giant 150m tall Tyrannosaurus Rex carved from a living field of maize plants.

Created by Skylark's Ed Gowler the monster dinosaur is just one of a host of new attractions for this summer and the children who were from three of the school's year groups: Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6, got to try them all out.

Ed and his team have painstakingly cut over 3km of pathways in his 12 acre field of maize plants to create the giant T-Rex which is over 150m (500 feet) tall - 25 times bigger than the real thing.

The Guyhirn pupils were invited by Skylark to join the official launch of the maze with the school choosing three year groups that have just completed government-required tests.

The children had a great time climbing a massive straw mountain, bouncing on an air trampoline mattress, and sliding down from the top of the newly-created 9m high wooden castle in three tubes.

They also whizzed along the zip wire, and enjoyed playing in the sand.

Journalists were taken on a helicopter flight over Skylark to see the gigantic dinosaur shaped maze from above and take in the full scale of the monster, which includes a puzzle solving mission for visitors to complete.

Skylark has invested millions in the site since it first opened in 2003 and has become a popular family attraction adding new fun activities each year.

Also new for 2018 are plans for a new extension to the award-winning cafe and an extension to the garden centre itself. Already completed are new toilets and a relocation and extension to the car park.

Ed said: “A giant T-Rex maze design is the perfect image to represent our big development plans. We are delighted to be unveiling phase one today, the development to the visitor attraction side of the business and providing exciting new facilities for families to enjoy in time for the summer school holidays. The extension to the café and garden centre will be phased in over the coming year.”

Ed added the new developments to the play area unveiled on Thursday will create 12 new part-time jobs, with a further five full time jobs being created when the extension to the café and garden centre are complete.

The Skylark Mazie Maze and Funyard opened to visitors on Saturday (14) and will be open daily until Monday September 3. For details visit www.skylark-events.co.uk.