BEST leave the car behind if you're heading to the new Richard Long exhibition at Tate Britain.

Heaven And Earth, which opens on Wednesday, is the first major London show in 18 years for the sculptor, who lets his boots do the talking.

Featuring 80 works inspired by Long's walks around the world, from Dartmoor to Japan, it explores the relationship between man and nature.

The Bristolian artist records his travels in various ways, from annotated maps to photos of lines created by trampling grass or dust underfoot.

He also brings the outdoors inside with his watery mud works, which will be made directly on the walls for this show, evoking the competing forces of nature.

But Long, who won the Turner Prize in 1989, is probably most famous for his simple but striking geometric stone sculptures.

The exhibition's main gallery will be devoted to six of these creations,

including the eight-metre wide Norfolk Flint Circle 1990, created by spreading a single layer of stones on the floor.

Long has described his work as a 'distillation of experience', a deeply personal response to the varied environments he encounters.

The impermanence of his work, which is quickly altered by wind and rain, helps him capture both a very specific moment and its relationship with ideas of time and measurement.

Born in 1945, he first made his mark in the 1960s as part of a new generation of British artists trying to extend the boundaries of sculpture.

He wanted it to be as much about time and place as material and form and to achieve this he invented what he calls "a new way of walking".

While the solitary treks are carefully planned, what he will create along the way is left up to nature to decide.

He records the walks using whichever form - maps, photos or text - he feels best suits the idea he's trying to represent.

Whatever you make of his work, there's plenty to get you thinking next time you head out for a summer stroll. [25cf] Richard Long: Heaven And Earth is at Tate Britain from June 3 to September 6.