A smallholder with 140 rescue animals has won her two-year fight to remain at her sanctuary.

Tracey Milton moved to the five acre plot in the Scottish Borders from her home county of Somerset around two years ago.

She purchased the land from a previous owner who lived in a static caravan on site - and raises chickens, alpacas, geese, pigs, Shetland ponies and a parrot.

The previous owner had been denied permission to live on the land in 2004 but successfully appealed and won.

When purchasing the property from them Tracey came to an agreement with a neighbouring landowner to supply electricity and water.

During the sale she was never informed that she may not be able to live on site near Selkirk.

But after living in her own static caravan on the property for four months, Scottish Borders Council enforcement officers arrived to order Tracey to leave.

But after a lengthy battle Tracey says she had won the fight to remain on the land to look after her over 100 rescued animals.

This week members of the review committee of Scottish Borders Council (SBC) went against the advice of their officers and allowed her to remain on the land.

After the ruling, Tracey said: "I didn't buy this land to have two years of worry and sleepless nights - but it now feels like it's been worth it as I can stay."

She added: "I brought the property as a residential property – all the paperwork said as much."

"I moved here because of my mental health – I suffer from chronic COPD and depression. I've also had four mini strokes. "

''I wanted somewhere that I could live with my animals.

"Nobody once said we wouldn't be allowed to live here. When we viewed it, there was a static caravan here."

"I was living here quite happily for about four months. "

''Then I got a knock at the door, and it was enforcement officers telling me that I had no right to be living here.

"They said there was an enforcement notice on the land, and I had no right to stay."

"This is my home. I had nowhere else to live."

Tracy said the animals – over 100 of them - rely on her for everything and she feeds and checks in on them three times a day.

She previously said: "The council want to know why I'm not living somewhere else. I use a mobility scooter, and with the housing crisis, there is nowhere else I can live where I can get here three to four times a day to check the animals. "

"There is electric and water and we pay our council tax – we're not trying to hide anything. "

"If we were told back then that we couldn't live here, I wouldn't have spent my money on the place. "

''I need somewhere I can be with the animals because I don't drive and a mobility scooter doesn't get you that far."

The previous owner of the smallholding was initially refused permission to live on the site in 2004.

But she submitted an appeal to the Scottish government and was allowed to reside in her static caravan on the four-and-a-half acres.

Legal checks were made by Ms Milton's solicitor and it was never disclosed that the residential permission was not transferable.

Tracey keeps two dogs, chickens, alpacas, geese, pigs and more on the property.

She regularly donates eggs from her chickens to the local foodbank, and invites neighbours with children and grandchildren to spend time outdoors with the animals.

Tracey hopes to open her farm up for free visits from people with disabilities and mental health issues in order to help them as much as she says the animals have helped her.

"A lot of the animals we have here are rescues, because I can't bear to see any animals get put to sleep," she said."

Tracey previously vowed to spend all her inheritance from my parents on her fight and added: "I will fight until my last breath to stay here."

Scottish Borders Council previously said living on the land was contrary to its living in the countryside policies.

Planners also stated that no economic justification had been provided for a continuation of the previous permission.

A retrospective application for residency was turned down, and an appeals process was launched.

Her appeal - to be heard last year - was also being recommended for refusal by planning officers, as she breached several policies for living in the countryside.

However, members of the local authority's review committee allowed her time to prepare for a personal appearance.

During this week's review hearing, Councillor Marshall Douglas said he felt the council was in the situation due to the previous owner and he did not believe Ms Milton was to blame.

Following a lengthy debate, members of the committee voted by six to two to allow her to continue living at the smallholding for the duration of her life.

A legal agreement is also being agreed which prevents residential permission terminating when she leaves the land.