Hello, I'm Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces.

You're listening to our podcast that explores the history and stories of our six palaces.

These talks are a collection of some of our best live events.

I really hope you enjoy listening.

The history of the English Garden reveals more than expected about the past and its people.

This series explores the theme of gardens as places of work, rest and leisure.

In this talk, award-winning maze designer Adrian Fisher tells us about the trend of the maze,

both in history and today.

Now, if you take the structure, the idea of mazes, what are they?

They go back 4,000 years, but they were, for nine-tenths of their history, they were only

labyrinths.

There were single threads in the landscape of stones or carved turf, cutting things.

There was no choice.

You go to the 13th century cathedrals in France.

And again, there were pavements, but just a single thread, a labyrinth.

But they represented a journey of the path of life, from birth to death.

And in that way, it's actually quite profound.

And you can take people around labyrinth even today.

And once you start thinking of the symbolism behind it, it can be very powerful.

Now, the great breakthrough in Hedgemases was the Italian Renaissance. In 1499, there was a priest who wrote a book in Venice called the Dream of Polyphilus.

And from this dream, the whole idea of the renaissance, the rediscovery, the rebirth of

the classical world of Italy and beyond that had been lost, was rediscovered.

...