OUR QUIRKY collections

Three women offer a glimpse of their most prized possessions

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'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.