A PROJECT to create a maze next door to Dartmoor provoked so much enthusiasm at Hatherleigh Festival that a support group is being set up.

The Friends of The Maze Group will raise awareness of the project and support the construction of the maze, designed by environmental artist Yvette Martin from Thorndon Cross.

A meeting to set up the group will be held this morning (Thursday) at 10.30am in Commerce House, Hatherleigh, which was a venue for the art exhibitions held during last weekend's festival.

The maze, which was featured in an article in the Okehampton Times in March, has been inspired by the mythology, history and sheer strength of the Dartmoor landscape.

Yvette has permission from a local farmer to site the sculpture at Meldon, where it would act as a stepping stone to the moor. Her intention is to build it from Meldon Quarry stone.

The idea is gathering support from officers within Dartmoor National Park, the Devon Lakes Trust and West Devon Borough Council but Yvette is still looking for a commissioner who will take on ownership of the project.

The woman behind the drive to set up a support group, Barbara Beaman, of Commerce House, is asking anyone interested in the project to turn up to the meeting today or contact her on 01837 810024.

She said everyone who attended the exhibition thought the maze was a 'fabulous idea.'

'The Friends of the Maze will have a three-fold purpose to raise awareness of the project, stress the ecological, environmental and economic benefits it will bring to the community and support the construction,' she said.

'Yvette is working very hard but she is only one person.'

Mrs Beaman said there was enough enthusiasm in Hatherleigh to get something like this off the ground, especially after the devastation of the foot and mouth crisis.

The maze would be a great asset to the area and become a tourist attraction, she said.

'This area has been particularly hard hit by foot and mouth and now we need to show the people of Devon and the UK that we are looking to the future — this project is perfect,' she said.