A 75-year-old grandmother died when her vintage tractor overturned as she drove home from exhibiting it at a country show she had helped to organise.

Edith Hannis from Cranham, was driving the slow-moving classic tractor along a country lane in Sapperton, near Cirencester, when it overturned.

police said the 1966 red and grey Massey Ferguson tractor had been on show at a vintage farm vehicle gathering in the area and had been leaving the event when it overturned on Daneway Hill, Sapperton, at around 3.15pm on Saturday.

"All three emergency services were called to the scene but the driver, a 75-year-old woman from Cranham, died of her injuries," said a Gloucestershire police spokesperson.

The road was closed for around five hours whilst collision investigation officers carried out their work.

The tractor is believed to have clipped a verge and rolled over, trapping Mrs Hannis, of Buckshead Farm, Cranham.

Her husband David Hannis was driving further ahead in a car and reached home unaware of the accident.

The couple are well known in the vintage farm vehicle world and have frequently exhibited their tractors at shows around the country.

Their son in law Richard Twinning said Irish-born Mrs Hannis came to the UK when she was 13 and had been married to David for about sixty years.

She has three children - sons Stephen and Robert and daughter Rosemary Twinning - and six grandchildren, he said.

"She and her husband had a passion for vintage tractors and owned somewhere between 10 and 20 of them," he said.

"They went to shows quite often - I think they had already done three this year.

"Dave is devastated about what's happened. She was a lovely, lively and vivacious lady with a real passion for life."

He said Mrs Hannis, who also had a love of country dancing, had worked as a waitress in many of the local pubs and restaurants in the Cranham area, including the Royal William and Black Horse, before retiring about 10 years ago.

In the 1970s Mrs Hannis and her husband took an Allis Calmers tractor on a charity run from Land's End to John O Groats.

Gloucestershire police Sergeant Tony Wallace said: "It would appear the driver was coming home in the old farmer's type D-reg tractor.

"Her husband, in a car in front, had got home and hadn't realised what had happened.

"The first call came from the ambulance saying the road was blocked and a female was trapped underneath the tractor.

"Despite attempts to resuscitate the woman, she sadly died as a result of her injuries.

"The road was completely blocked until 8.30pm as the vehicle had to be recovered using specialist equipment.

"Highways also cleared the diesel spillage."

The accident happened about half way up a steep hill as Mrs Hannis drove home from a rally she had helped to organise.

Flowers were left at the scene today including one bunch with a card saying "We will never forget you or the lovely fun weekends we had with you."

A spokesman for the Gloucester coroner said Mrs Hannis has not yet been formally identified and it is expected an inquest will not be opened before Wednesday.

Anyone with information about the collision should contact police on 101 quoting incident number 286 of September 8.