The airship crashed by trees and hedges in a farmer's field

Top Gear presenter James May escaped unhurt when an airship he was travelling in crash-landed in a field.

May was filming a feature for the TV show in which a caravan was attached to the bright orange airship and flown across Cambridgeshire.

It was supposed to land on a cricket pitch but strong winds blew it off course and it landed on its side in a farmer's field near the A428.

Emergency services were on stand-by, but were not needed, the BBC said.

Eyewitness Peter Clarke told the Daily Mail newspaper the caravan-carrying airship was "a very strange sight".

He said: "I understand they were planning to land on the village cricket green in the middle of a match.

"All the cricketers were there dressed in their whites waiting for it to appear, but it started drifting off in the wrong direction.

"The film crew were a bit fed up as they'd been hanging around the village all day waiting for the wind to drop so they could film."

A spokeswoman for Top Gear confirmed May was uninjured, but refused to disclose any further details about the stunt.

"Viewers will have to wait until the next series to find out what happens," she added