IF it's true that laughter extends life expectancy, then Pam Ayres should be available on prescription.

Gifted with an extraordinary sense of humour and observation, her give-away grin tells her audience "I'm here to make you laugh so let it rip" - and a full house at Ludlow Assembly Rooms did just that.

Her solo show was side-splitting from beginning to end as she related day-to-day life - as she sees it and we recognised it. It was a polished stand-up routine reminiscent of the good old-fashioned music hall turn.

Joyous

For two hours her phenomenal memory turned out monologues, anecdotes and patter ranging from rural family life and the birds and the bees to well-woman clinics and impatient, map reading husbands "who know it all".

Ayres delivers the goods up front with out a hint of present-day smut, joyously laughing at her own commentaries as if hearing them for the very first time.

Famous across the world, last year she celebrated 25 years on stage by taking her solo show to Australia and New Zealand and is returning by popular demand next February.

Home is in the Cotswolds, but she told The Advertiser: "I've done a few 'turns' in Ludlow and I enjoy coming, and when I stroll round the town sometimes I think I'd like to live here one day."

It's then the animal lover clicks in and she wonders how her Dexter cattle, Myrtle the Cotswold sheep, who's wool she knits, Spotty and Dotty, a pair of Gloucester Old Spots, numerous hens and a Jack Russell would take to a move - let alone husband Dudley her agent and her two strapping sons William, aged 22, and James, 19.

Asked if she's ready to call it a day, she commented: "I love what I do, and I can't ever imagine a time when I couldn't do it. Making people laugh is priceless and as long as I can continue to do it, it's all the reward I need."

Pam Ayres is a national treasure, a tonic without the need for gin.