An adventurous grandmother from Gerrards Cross hit her head when she fell over in the bathroom of a hotel while on holiday in Sri Lanka and died three months later in a UK hospital, a coroner heard on Thursday.

Pauline Golding, a 78-year-old former teacher and hypnotherapist, had been taken seriously ill in Sri Lanka, but after treatment for brain swelling she was able to fly back to the UK and live in at home.

However, two months later Mrs Golding her condition worsened, and she was admitted to a hospital in Slough where she contracted pneumonia.

The Berkshire coroner recorded a conclusion of accidental death after hearing from Mrs Golding's sons who described her as "adventurous" and a lover of sports and dancing.

The inquest, in Reading, was told that Mrs Golding was travelling on a coach tour in South Asia when a fellow traveller and hotel bellboy checked her bedroom after a long absence.

Senior coroner Heidi Connor heard that after a day exploring the stone city of Sigiriya, an ancient rock fortress near Dambulla, the pair found Mrs Golding lying in bed suffering with a severe headache.

She had previously declined the chance to attend dinner in the downstairs restaurant with her fellow coach travellers.

The coroner explained that Mrs Golding told the pair that she had banged her head after falling in her bathroom at their hotel in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, on February 9.

Reading from a witness statement from tour guide Ernest Samuel, the coroner said that Mrs Golding was rushed to a local hospital where she was diagnosed on arrival with an intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) in her brain.

An ICH causes a sudden burst and damage to the brain.

However, when her condition worsened, she was transferred to the Nawaloka Colombo Hospital on February 13, where a CT scan revealed bleeding and swelling on the brain.

After 24 hours under sedation Mrs Golding was put on a ventilator to help her breathe and she was given a blood transfusion.

She returned home to Gerrards Cross in March after her condition improved but was later re-admitted to Wexham Park Hospital in May.

A statement from Pamela Norcliff, a consultant at Wexham Park, told how Mrs Golding's condition worsened again with symptoms resembling pneumonia and her family and the medical team prepared to put Ms Golding on end-of-life care.

Tragically she died June 17 at Wexham Park Hospital.

A post-mortem examination showed that her death resulted from a haemorrhage and bilateral pneumonia after a traumatic head injury caused during her hotel fall.

Sri Lankan police recorded that there was no evidence of suspicious circumstances.

Her sons, Mark and Dominic, described Mrs Golding, a former teacher, as very adventurous and outgoing and a lover of sports and dancing.

They said that she was a frequent traveller abroad and became a professional hypnotherapist after retiring from teaching. She travelled alone because her husband had a fear of flying.