YORK Maize Maze is out of this world this year, giving visitors the chance to boldly go where no man has gone before.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the first Apollo Moon landings, farmer Tom Pearcy has cut a giant image of an astronaut from his field of maize.

The 10km of pathways form an intricate maze for visitors to explore, the largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Measuring over 300m – 1000ft – in length, the astronaut has been painstakingly carved out of over one million living maize plants.

The Astronaut maze, in Elvington Lane, follows previous designs including the Statue Of Liberty, The Starship Enterprise and Flying Scotsman locomotive.

Mr Pearcy said: “Each year I try to choose a maze design which is both topical and makes a great aerial image. Marking the 40th anniversary of the first manned flight to the Moon is my personal tribute to the endeavour and bravery of those lunar pioneers.”

To launch the maze, Mr Pearcy donned an astronaut’s outfit and jumped into a replica lunar buggy - whose engine was obviously full of moon dust as it had to be pushed.

The maize maze has even enlisted the help of a real-life space expert.

Colin Pillinger, who has worked with NASA since the 1960s analysing moon samples and led the UK’s unmanned Beagle 2 mission to Mars which disappeared on the way to the planet’s surface, said: “What man achieved 40 years ago was fantastic and it is right that it should be marked with celebrations and events around the world. York’s astronaut maize maze is a fun and an eye-catching contribution to the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and will hopefully help fire the imagination of the families who visit the maze this summer, inspiring the next generation of space explorers.” York Maze is open daily from this Saturday until September. For more information visit yorkmaze.co.uk