A SIMPLE life avoiding take-aways and long-haul flights are the secret to a long and healthy life, a woman has claimed as she turned 100.

Augusta “Peggy” Faulkner, from Pitsea, celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday surrounded by her close family and friends.

The former Land Army Girl proudly received a special card from King Charles III marking her landmark birthday.

When asking about what her secret is to live a long life, Peggy said: “I don’t know! It’s not a secret, my mum used to say, ‘you work or starve’!”

However, her son Barry Faulkner chimed in and said, “She’s never had a takeaway, she’s never eaten Indian food, if it’s not basic, she won’t eat it.”

Peggy also has never learned how to drive or ever left the country. The furthest she has travelled was to the Isle of Wight. She doesn’t have a passport or a driving licence.

She exclaimed “Oh, I’m terrible! If I look at anything and I don’t like the look of it, I won’t have it.”

She moved to Pitsea in 1990 to be closer to her grandchildren and has stayed there ever since.

Her son Barry added: “It’s just such a big occasion really, not many people live to 100.

“She’s got quite a lot of friends round here, considering that for probably the last 15 years since my dad died, she’d kept saying ‘I won’t be around long.’ “But she seems quite fit really considering she’s hard of hearing, deaf and only got sight in one eye, so she makes the best of everything.”

Peggy reflected on becoming a centenarian, adding: “I’d never thought I’d get to 100. I never drank medicine, it’s very very rare.

“If I didn’t like something, I’d say to my mum ‘will I die?’ when I was about six. But look, I’m still here. I’m flabbergasted.”

“Mind you, some of my family were old too – they were old but didn’t live as long as this.”

Peggy grew up in Devon and served as a Land Army Girl during the Second World War, where women stepped in to help replace male farm workers who went to fight in the war.