A MINIATURE version of Formby Beach is being created in a prestigious London art gallery. Four tonnes of pine needles, five gnarled trees and a tonne of Formby sand have been transported from the Sefton coastline to the middle of the urban capital.

Visitors to the Fine Art Society gallery will walk through a space lined with pine needles and can even get some Merseyside sand in their shoes.

The work has been created by horticultural artist Tony Heywood, who grew up in Formby during the 60s and 70s when he took many walks through the pinewoods to the beach beyond.

He describes the piece as “a landscape of memory”.

He said: “I wanted to create an abstract version of a landscape that has great symbolic meaning to me.

“To me, Formby Beach was a wilderness and I think that’s something we all yearn for.

“To go down there on a winter’s day or early in the morning and there is no-one else around is quite fantastic.”

Heywood sought permission from the National Trust rangers to remove natural material from the coastline, and only took trees that were already dead.

They have been treated with a preserving substance normally used to line ship’s tankers.