Lucky Lilly the springer spaniel fell 80ft over a cliff – and miraculously escaped with just a few cuts and bruises.

Owner Viv Salisbury, from Rochester, was walking her four dogs along the coast when Lilly bolted free and plummeted down the steep rock face.

Ms Salisbury, 49, screamed to her partner Harold Acheson, who scrambled down the precarious incline where the three-year-old dog was lying, apparently lifeless.

She said she yelled "Where's Lilly?" and then noticed a gap in the railings on the clifftop down to the beach at Kingsgate, near Broadstairs.

Clinging on to her other three spaniels, the worried dog lover feared the worst.

She said: "I thought there is no way she could have survived a fall like that.

"But, thankfully, she is very light and landed on sand."

Mr Acheson, 54, scooped her up and they drove back to Medway and took her straight to the vet.

After a thorough check-up to see if she had broken any bones or suffered serious internal injuries, Lilly was, remarkably, given the all-clear.

The couple took her back to the family home, in The Tideway, where she has been given painkillers and told to rest.

The drama unfolded on Good Friday as they were taking Lilly plus Ozzie, four, Toby, two, and one-year-old Milo for their regular walk on the beach.

Ms Salisbury, who is a cook at Balfour Junior School in Chatham, said: "We like going there because the dogs can go on the beach all the year round and like to swim in the sea.

"Despite the shock of what has happened it would not put us off going there again.

"Being springer spaniels they are lively dogs but we shall be keeping a close eye on Lilly next time."

Lilly is now being taken for "light" walks.

Ms Salisbury said: “She is quite badly bruised and on morphine.

"She gets restless and tries to jump around, but soon realises she can't do what she usually does at the moment."