The tractor will visit lifeboat stations

A farmer who found an old tractor in a ditch set off on Saturday on a trip around the UK to raise money for charity.

Terry Williams from Bruton, Somerset, hopes his 4,500-mile trek on the tractor he calls "Betsy" will earn him a place in the record books.

Mr Williams stumbled across the tractor on a peat moor in Somerset when he was driving a car which was forced off the road.

He was saved from plummeting into a ditch by the 50-year-old tractor which had been lying on its side for 15 years.

Mr Williams has spent nine months restoring the Massey Fergusson machine to full working order and now hopes to use it to visit every lifeboat station in the country.

His route is from Wincanton to Land's End then on to Dover, John O'Groats in Scotland and back to the West Country via Wales.

Terry Williams is raising money for four charities

The journey is 4,895 miles and as the tractor can only do 12 mph the trip will take a month.

Mr Williams said: "It's like a love affair.

"I am already in love with her now and I think I shall probably get more and more in love with her as we go round.

"Most tractors people see are very modern but when they see this one I'm sure they'll fall in love with her like I have done.

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"The smell of the engine, the gentle bounce up and down on the seat, there's nothing like it."

He hopes his journey will set a new world record for the longest journey on a vintage tractor.

Mr Williams is raising cash for four charities: the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Cancer and Leukaemia in Children, St Margaret's Hospice in Yeovil and the National Asthma Campaign.

He hopes to be back in Somerset in time for a parade lap at the Royal Bath and West show in Shepton Mallet at the end of May.