AT THE impressive age of 100, Ruby Holt had lived a full life, but she had never been to the beach or seen the sea — until this week.

Holt, who turns 101 in December, has spent her life in the US state of Tennessee, working on a cotton farm and in a shirt factory, as well as raising four children.

Work and family kept her so busy, she only left Tennessee once, to visit the state of Alabama, Fox News reports.

During a recent conversation with staff at the care home where she now lives, Ms Holt mentioned she had never been to the beach.

Through a partnership between her residence, Brookdale Senior Living Solutions, and the Wish of a Lifetime organisation, Ms Holt was this week given an all-expenses paid trip to a resort in the Gulf of Mexico, where she walked on sand for the first time and felt the sea on her bare feet.

“I always wanted to see the beach,” she told Associated Press. “I heard people talking about it, how wonderful it was and I wanted to see it I never had the opportunity to do so until just now.”

Using a donated motorised wheelchair, with fat tires to negotiate the sand, Ms Holt was able to go right down to the water’s edge, and even walk for a while on the beach with the assistance of staff from her care home, who also made sure she was rugged up against the autumn chill.

“I wasn’t scared but it was cold,” she said of the unforgettable experience.

“When we got to the [hotel] room yesterday she was just pointing out the ocean and, you know, her facial expressions and ... she was just speechless,” said Mark Davis, executive director of Brookdale’s Sterling House.