Beloved Home and Away actress Sheila Kennelly has died aged 88.

The British-born star was best known for playing retired pensioner and former carnival worker Floss McPhee in the long-running Australian soap.

Kennelly appeared in 188 episodes of Home and Away and was part of the show’s original cast.

Her death was confirmed by television historian Andrew Mercado, who said the actress died on her farm in the Hunter Valley.

Mercado said Kennelly died surrounded by her animals and family, in the way she had always wanted.

“She was surrounded by her dogs and dear family who looked after her so lovingly in her final days,” he wrote on social media.

Kennelly enjoyed a long career across Australian television, taking on a string of memorable roles.

She played the wig-wearing barmaid Norma Whittaker in Number 96, who famously called everyone “ducky,” as well as the jolly Italian mother-in-law Rosa in Kingswood Country.

But it was her role as Floss, the carnival worker who lived in a caravan, that made her a familiar face to generations of Home and Away viewers.

Mercado described Kennelly as the “last one standing” of a special group of friends that included Number 96 stars Carol Raye, Elaine Lee and Elizabeth Kirkby.

“I have no doubt they are all now having a lovely reunion with each other,” he wrote.

Born in England in 1936, she emigrated to Australia with her family as a child and took up acting in her teens. One of her first roles as a 17-year-old was a 55-year-old German landlady in I Am A Camera.

“It was only a small role, but I thought it was marvellous,” she told TV Week in 1973.

She was touring in View From A Bridge when she met her husband, Chris Christensen. After they married they relocated from Sydney to live on a farm on the New South Wales Central coast. Tragically, Christensen died from a heart attack just two-and-a-half years after they married.

Kennelly never remarried and despite playing the colourful mother-in-law in KingsWood Country and warm-hearted Floss McPhee in Home and Away, she never had any children.

Her last on-screen appearance was in 2008 when she briefly reprised her iconic role as McPhee on Home and Away. She then stepped away from the spotlight to enjoy a quiet retirement on her farm in New South Wales.