A retired GP turned artist has marked Christmas with a giant sand drawing of Santa Claus on his sleigh.

Claire Eason, 59, and her son Andrew, 27, spent four hours carving the festive image into a beach.

The pair dodged storms and winter tides to create the stunning 80ft artwork - complete with reindeer - on Beadnell Bay, Northumberland.

Claire, who was a GP for 30 years before taking up beach art, used a garden rake and builder's string to achieve a perfect full-moon effect.

She said: "The weather has been very challenging to get onto the beaches for any decent amount of time in the run up to Christmas."

"My son and I would be checking the weather apps and tide times until we found a perfect window to work in."

"We dashed up to Beadnell Bay which is perfect for these large art works and used a builder's string attached to a stake to draw the moon."

"It worked like a gigantic compass and from there we added Santa, his sleigh and of, course, the reindeer."

"We are always working against the clock because you don't want the tide to come and wash it away before you've finished it."

"It took around four hours to complete. Andrew and I are on the same wave length "
and we had discussed how we wanted it to look."