Work has begun in Northumberland on a massive earth sculpture of a naked, reclining woman.

Its creator, landscape architect Charles Jenks, has been forced to deny it is offensive to women – claiming it will be an iconic celebration of the human form.

Crews using bulldozers and excavators have started work on the spectacular,  440-yard-long sculpture using 1.5m tonnes of soil and clay dug from an opencast mine nearCramlington.