Skip to content

Mystery coastal artwork impresses beach visitors

BBC An artwork with hundreds of stones in different colours in a concentric design BBC
One walker who saw the artist at work said it took him a number of hours to make

A coastal artwork has impressed walkers, who have described it as "absolutely beautiful".

The sculpture, made up of hundreds of different coloured stones, appeared on Cambois beach in Northumberland on Monday.

One visitor to the beach, Naomi Forrest from Bedlington, watched the artist and said he worked "very fast".

"It is a simple design and a simple thing to do but it's a wonderful creation," she said.

A circular ring of stones with a power stations and turbines in the distance
The sculpture survived a very high tide on Tuesday

Mrs Forrest said she was walking up the beach with two of her sons when they saw a man gathering stones.

"It wasn't that advanced when we first saw him, he was gathering the smaller ones, he just seemed very focused and in the zone, back and forth carrying the stones.

"I didn't recognise him but loads of people were stopping to watch what he was doing and I told him it was absolutely lovely."

A young woman, Hannah Smith, is standing by the sculpture with her dog Cooper who is a seven month old spaniel
Hannah Smith with her puppy Cooper was impressed with the effort the artist had put in

Hannah Smith, who was on the beach with her dog Cooper, described the sculpture as "absolutely amazing".

"Obviously someone has put a lot of effort in, it's lovely to think of someone doing that."

Angela Messenger A small pyramid of stone shaped in a human figure Angela Messenger
The artist also constructed a tower of stones next to the ring

Marina Bullough says she walks on the beach "most days".

"I'm always looking for things of interest and I just came upon it and I thought 'just wow'.

"I know it's just a simple thing, but I love the colours of all the different stones, I just think it's absolutely beautiful."

Marina Bullough is standing next to the sculpture. She has two dogs with her and is wearing blue trousers and a red and blue jacket.
Marina Bullough said lots of people had been taking pictures of the stones

Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].

More stories from BBC North East and Cumbria