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They're celebrating the Millennium by growing a maize crop this summer for the first time on the 600-acre farm at Compton Hall, South Creake. If you think that's an odd way to mark AD 2000, read on.

This is no ordinary field of maize. It is designed in the shape of a champagne bottle pouring into a champagne glass. It is in fact a Maize Maze, with a life-sized figure of the Maize Master standing in the open centre along with other metal sculptures.

The direct route through the Maize Maze, which opened to the public on 15 July, is more than a mile long, but taking wrong turnings and getting

disoriented in the seven-acre crop which grows up to six feet high could mean you are in the Maize Maze for up to two hours.

Don't worry, though. Staff wander around, and you can take a sealed map with you to open if you feel hopelessly lost. Or you can get help by using a helium-filled balloon as a marker.

An optional quiz has been organised, with many clues within the Maize Maze. There are special questions for tiny tots to answer.

A fund-raising "duck-ducking" game involving little yellow plastic ducks, a mini-maze and a children’s adventure play trail help to raise money for charitable organisations.

The Maize Maze is open until mid-September. The idea was first spawned and developed by Compton Hall's dynamic Anna Gardner and her farmer husband, Christopher.

Their three sons – Ben, aged 18, Dib, 22 and Nick, 24 – contributed ideas and practical help, and Anna and Ben worked to acquire the health and hygiene certificate essential for the catering side of the project.

A trailer serving hot and cold drinks, burgers and other snacks is coping with hearty appetites throughout the Maize Maze season. The maize crop will be used for sheep feed when the maze closes.

Anna is one of nature's perfectionists. She has lived, breathed and slept the Maze Maize for many months and is as excited by the concept today as she was when the idea first began to germinate.

"It's the sort of thing that appeals to everyone," she said, between fielding 'phone calls in the farmhouse kitchen. "Children today don't play outside much. They play in ball pools, fun houses, bouncy castles. The Maize Maze gives them a chance to see nature at its very best, enjoying an agricultural experience as they wander through a corn field."

Adults will enjoy the challenge of the Maize Maze. Granny may not want to walk through, but she can sit and have a cup of tea in the picnic area until the family return, consulting information boards to complete any quiz questions they have missed out or discovering such facts as why corn dollies have no faces..

There's entertainment for all. But Anna points out: "The main reason for all this is not just for fun." Good causes close to her heart – the Spinal Injuries Association and St John Ambulance – will benefit. However, farming in Britain has taken a series of body blows in recent years and diversification is vital.

"We can't just talk gloom and doom and bury our heads like ostriches. We hope the Maize Maze will help counteract the downturn in farming," Anna explains.

Christopher and Anna plan to present their Maize Maze every summer for a few years, introducing different themes.

Opening hours from 15 July to mid-September – "eight days a week" as Anna puts it – are from 10.00-19.00, with last entry into the maze at 17.00. From 19.00 people can hire the Maize Maze for private parties.

Click here to see an aerial view of the Maize Maze.

Admission charge: £3.50, children £2.50, families (two adults, two children) £10. Parking free. Compton Hall is on the B1355 Fakenham-Burnham Market road. Tel: 01328 823224; mobile: 077 9969 2318. The Maize Maze is signposted.

Walkin' the Mawkin Way

Residents and visitors alike are invited to create and follow a Mawkin Trail around South Creake over a weekend in August. “Mawkin” is the Norfolk word for a scarecrow.

The Scarecrow Festival will be part of an Arts and Craft Fair to be staged at the village church on August 7 and 8. Organisers Barbara Allen (Tel: 01328 823269) and Sheila Taylor (01328 823560) say the aim is to revive the dying craft of making mawkins. Anyone can have a go and scarecrows can be displayed in gardens, outside garden gates, or even on rooftops. Sites will be found for those without gardens and straw can be supplied if needed.

There will be a prize for the most innovative display (why stop at one mawkin?) and proceeds from the Trail will go towards the South Creake Guides' Golden Anniversary fund.

Barbara and Sheila hope a high proportion of local talent will be featured at the Arts and Craft Fair. Hobbyists and others with a particular skill are invited to display and or sell their wares on one or both days and stands may be shared. Contact Barbara or Sheila for details.

The churches of neighbouring Syderstone, Sculthorpe and South Creake will benefit from the proceeds of the arts and crafts event.