About Hay Close Farm
Opened in July 2006 The Hay Close Maize Maze was the first maze in the beautiful Eden Valley. Being a family business we care about you our visitors, we wanted to build a special place for you to bring the children and let them enjoy the experience of the country and what we do. We pride ourselves on being friendly and we want you to have fun. Situated near Calthwaite, Hay Close has been farmed by the Field family for over 50 years, mainly producing quality beef cattle, ewes and lambs and increasingly aiming to grow as many crops such as wheat and barley, which we then feed to our livestock, helping us become self sufficient and overall reducing bought in food miles.
Other Creature Visitors
Our farm is lucky to attract not just human visitors but also other two four or more legged creatures and insects, including our home bred ducks which can be found on our traditional farm pond, who have quickly found out that the adjacent picnic area can prove to be very lucrative when in need of a light snack! We have planted many hedgerows and woodlands on the farm and aim to maintain our planting programme for many years to come. This attracts many finches, tits, sparrows; even woodpeckers can be seen at Hay Close. There are also hares to be found and at night badgers and hedgehogs will come out and probably chance their luck in the maize!
Ladybirds
We were overwhelmed by the thousands of ladybirds last year, who took up residence on the actual maize. Visitors commented that they’d never seen such a large concentration in one place. There are nearly 100 species of ladybirds found in Europe and about 40 of these are resident in the British Isles. The native ladybird is in decline and this year we are looking forward to being their host yet again. Why not come and see for yourself?