Naked woman landscape sculpture damaged by walkers

The sculpture is known as "The Lady of the North"

A landmark outdoor artwork of a naked woman has been damaged by walkers.

Northumberlandia, a landscape sculpture in Cramlington, would "take years" to recover from the destruction caused by visitors, Northumberland Wildlife Trust said.

Track marks in the grass are being caused by people ignoring the established paths and walking up the sides of the hillocks that form the sculpture.

The trust has warned that if visitors continued to flout the rules, fences would be erected which could spoil views from the top.

Northumberlandia is a human landform sculpture of a reclining woman

Northumberlandia, also known as "The Lady of The North", was unveiled in 2012 and attracts about 100,000 visitors a year.

Planned for seven years and built in two, she is the largest landscape replica of the female body ever seen in the world, her creators claim.

She stands 112ft (34m) high at her tallest point, her forehead, and is 1,300ft (400m) long.

She is made up of 1.5m tonnes of rock, soil, stone and clay.

'Playground slide'

A spokesman for Northumberland Wildlife Trust said: "Instead of using the designated footpaths, visitors, many of them with buggies, have been clambering up the side.

"In addition, families have been sliding down the steepest side of the sculpture as if it were a playground slide.

"This has resulted in massive amounts of damage to ground and has left the landmark looking a bit worse for wear.

"It's important for the Lady to look her best, so staff and volunteers from the wildlife charity are tasked with repairing it."

He added that the trust did not want to fence off the mounds, but the ground needed time to repair.