Make a Labyrinth for your garden
Create some intrigue for your garden or allotment by marking out a beautiful labyrinth with stones. Labyrinths are fun for kids and adults alike to explore, and offer a nice visual feature for your garden.
Ideally, you’d make the labyrinth in a patch of short grass, marking it out with submerged, flat stones. But of course if you only have concrete, you can make a less permanent pattern and still have fun with it.
This labyrinth, like the one at the Eden Project, is a seven-circuit labyrinth, in which a single path loops around to make seven paths to the central goal.
How to make a labyrinth
Try drawing this pattern on paper before you actually lay it out on your grass.
- Draw a right-angled cross with arms of equal length.
- Draw four right angle shapes that nestle into the initial cross’s right angles.
- Mark a dot at each outside corner.
- To draw the curved paths, start at the top of the cross and draw a curved line that joins it to the next available line or dot.
- Repeat this step until you have created the whole Labyrinth.
Use a long rope, or a garden hose softened in teh sun, to mark out on the grass the pattern where the stones should be placed.
About labyrinths
- The labyrinth is an ancient symbol found worldwide. It has been depicted on coins as early as the fifth century BC.
- To sailors it was a good-luck token, ensuring safe return. It also provided protection against wandering spirits, who allegedly got lost in the curves.
- In the medieval times it stood for a model of the cosmos with seven heavenly bodies circling the Earth.
- It has also provided a focus for meditation because, unlike mazes, which are designed to confuse, labyrinths lead you on a journey to the centre and back again.
Thankyou to mmahaffie for this lovely photo.
