OUR QUIRKY collections

Three women offer a glimpse of their most prized possessions

'My teddies keep me smiling'

Jessica Redland, 51, is an author and lives in Scarborough with her husband Mark, 53, and their daughter Ashleigh, 16.

I've always adored teddies as a child my bedroom was filled with plushies. They came with me when I moved out of home in my early 20s after landing a job in HR. I filled my new place with teddy paraphernalia, from tea towels to salt and pepper shakers. Mum even bought me a (slightly creepy) vacuum cleaner cover!

In 2000, my boyfriend at the time took me to Lincoln to visit his folks. While there, we popped into a specialist teddy shop and it changed my life. It was the first time I'd seen 'proper' teddies - Dean's, Steiff and Merrythought bears. I was shocked at the price tags but still ended up forking out £70 on a little Dean's teddy. Soon the plushies were replaced.

My relationship ended in 2002 and I went scuba diving in Egypt with friends to get away from it all. While there, I met a man named Johnny, who was quitting his job to retrain as an architect in his late 20s.

'You're so brave,' I said. "What would you do, if you could do anything at all?' he asked me. 'I'd open a teddy bear shop,' I told him.

Then, I thought, why not? I took voluntary redundancy in early 2003, moved back with Mum and Dad, and opened Bear's Pad in Richmond, North Yorkshire, in the May. Sadly, my love for bears meant I ran the shop with my heart, not my head - I always overstocked and prayed that customers wouldn't purchase my favourites. But, in quiet moments, I indulged another passion: writing, tapping out my first novel on a laptop.

I met my now husband, Mark, in July and we bought a house in Scarborough in 2004, where he's from. It meant shutting up shop but as I was yet to turn a profit, it seemed like a sensible decision.