Driving a modified 4x4 pick-up around muddy fields competing against other drivers, is not a past-time you would associate with a young Bristol woman trained in holistic therapy.

But this is exactly what 21-year-old Stacey Mills, of Knowle, has been doing for the past 12 years, and now she wants to encourage other women to get involved in the sport.

Miss Mills is one of only three women members of the south west branch of national off-road driving club, the All Wheel Drive Club.

But Miss Mills still manages to give the hundreds of men in the club a run for their money in competitions held all over the region each month.

She told the Evening Post that other women should be encourage to get involved in the sport, which sees members travel all over the country and even the continent for competitions.

Miss Mills, who studied holistic therapy at college, said off-roading is her one passion in life. She said: "It's my life. It's what I love to do above everything else. It's like a religion for me; when people go to church, I go driving."

Miss Mills and her partner Mark Souch, 33, spent most of their spare time for two months modifying a Land Rover Discovery into a pick-up.

She said: "It took a lot of hard work and an angle grinder. Mark designed it and made his own fuel tank. We had lots of late nights in the garage."

Members of the All Wheel Drive Club mainly drive their 4x4s around farmland and quarries, including at sites in West Harptree, Bristol, Clevehill, Cheltenham, and Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

Miss Mills started as a passenger at the age of nine, and started driving at the age of 13, and unaccompanied when she passed her driving test.

She said: "A lot of people are not happy with the thought of off-road driving and are against it, but we do it legally with the permission of the farmer. It's not just flat land we compete in, but hills, giant puddles, trying not to hit the canes in each section. The person with the least hits wins."

She added: "There are only three women drivers, but the men are very encouraging and take it when we beat them. People are judged on their driving, we are all the same.

"We used to have a few more women drivers, but for some reason, they have given up. We would encourage a lot more women to get involved. You have to try it at least once, because it's such a buzz."

Miss Mills is currently job-hunting, but used to work in the reception of a car garage in Clifton dealing with customers and ordering parts.

The All Wheel Drive Club are going to Sweden next year for the Eurotrials and are hopeful of success.