It has attracted more than 50,000 visitors a year to see designs which have included James Bond, Star Trek, Flying Scotsman and Big Ben, but now York's Maize Maze is on the move.
The £500m expansion of York University means that farmer Tom Pearcy, of Heslington, is having to move the tourist attraction to a new site at Dunnington Lodge off Elvington Lane.
This year will be the last that the Maize Maze will be grown close t
o the Grimston Bar Park and Ride site. Next year Mr Pearcy hopes the crop – and its visitors – will be on his new farm.
He plans to convert existing farm buildings and create a 200 bay car park to the south of the farmhouse adjacent to Elvington Lane, Dunnington – close to the Yorkshire Air Museum. An overflow car park is planned in the adjoining field. On August Bank Holiday last year there were 338 cars in one day.
Initially there were concerns that the 50,000 visitors attracted during the three months opening season would cause traffic hazards on the narrow lane, but Mr Pearcy has agreed to pay for highway improvements.
A localised widening scheme will be created at the farm entrance to allow through traffic to pass vehicles waiting to get into the site and two bus stops together with a small lay-by are being provided for visitors using public transport.
The site is in Green Belt and York Council has had to consider whether the Maize Maze is an appropriate use of the land. But development control officer Matthew Parkinson is recommending approval of the changes necessary for the maze.
He said: "The Maize Maze largely involves leisure-based development which takes place within an agricultural crop, being grown for agricultural purposes.
"The crop is to be grown anyway in connection with the established agricultural use of the land and the only difference will be that there will be pathways through the crop. The creation of the maze itself will not harm the openness of the Green Belt."
Two teepees – each 10 metres in diameter and eight metres high – are planned for children to play in on a site to the west of the farm buildings. Mr Parkinson says they will be largely screened from view by the buildings and are acceptable provided they are taken down at the end of the Maize Maze season.
Urging a restriction on use from July 1 to October 1, Mr Parkinson said: "The venture promotes a form of farm and economic diversification which Government guidance and local policy encourages."
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