Discover the countryside: Hampshire

LANDSCAPE STORY: A maze cut into the chalk

High on a hilltop near Breamore, cut into the turf of the chalk downland, is the Miz Maze, one of only eight surviving medieval turf mazes left in England, and one of just two ever given that name.

The path there is itself part of the story. A bridleway leads from Breamore House, through woodland and open meadows, past a gate that looks private but opens at the push of a button, a public right of way in disguise. After two miles, a small clearing in a copse of yew reveals the maze itself.

No one knows exactly when it was made. Tradition holds that monks from a priory here used it for penance, crawling its full length on their knees while saying prayers, though its winding, cross-marked design also echoes labyrinths found on the floors of churches in France and Italy. Whatever its true origin, it has been recut and maintained, generation after generation, for at least 250 years, and probably far longer.