At Beech Hill Farm it's possible to get to Canada from Massachusetts in half an hour. If you work hard enough, you can touch down on every planet in the solar system, and submerge yourself in the ocean.

Just don't pick the corn along the way.

Parents looking for a way to keep little ones busy this summer might consider a trip to the corn mazes out at the Hopkinton Farm. This year there are three: the Granite State Corn Maze, the Cosmic Corn Maze and, coming next weekend, Nemo's Math Mystery Maze.

A special breed of corn designed just for mazes makes it impossible to cheat your way through. The stalks are thick and grow to about 7 feet, so you have to follow the path.

But if you fear getting lost in the cool green jungle, don't worry. The largest of the three mazes is 4 acres, and it takes about half an hour to get through, according to Holly Kimball Rhines, who runs the farm with her husband, Peter Rhines, and her parents, Robert and Donna Kimball.

"We didn't want to make them too big," she said. "I had just heard from so many people who had been to other mazes where they had ended up getting lost for two hours. That's no fun if you have to go to the bathroom, or you're hot and tired and just want to get out."

To make the mazes completely disaster-proof, the family put each one on a hillside. If explorers decide they want out, all they have to do is head down hill. They'll eventually pick up the path leading to the exit.

This is the fourth year the family has had mazes on the farm. Although they're popular with kids, the mazes attract plenty of adults, from women's social clubs to church groups.

A popular field trip destination, the mazes also attract teachers hoping to get some hands-on learning time in with their students. Each maze features riddles, as well as answers to questions kids have on worksheets they take in with them.

The Granite State maze - shaped like a map of the state, you enter at the Massachusetts border and end up at the Canadian border - focuses on New Hampshire history. Maze explorers are assigned to look for information such as the 14th president of the United States, or, the date on the bottom of the state seal.

In the Cosmic Maze, the questions are all about the solar system: Which planet is known as the "Red Planet?"and Which of the planets is the largest?

(Sorry, we're not going to give you the answers here. You'll have to look for them in the corn.)

The final day of the season is Oct. 31. Once the mazes

are closed, the corn is picked and given to a neighbor, who uses it as feed for his beef cattle.

And while visitors may enjoy themselves, the family also gets a kick out of planning and running the mazes.

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