WHEN two Derbyshire housewives came to the Isle of Wight for their annual retreat last May, they could not possibly have realised what lay ahead of them.

Christine Hill and Judith Grice both from Coningsby, fell in love with the Island on their first visit and wanted to share its magic with their family and friends back at home.

Judith, 43, said: "I have known Christine for a number of years because we both have sons with special needs.

"Every year we go away together, usually somewhere abroad. Last year, one of our friends suggested that we should pay a visit to the Isle of Wight as they had a caravan there that we could use.

"Neither of us had been there before so we thought it might be a nice idea. When we got there we both totally fell for the Island.

"We wanted to take photos of the Island to take back to show our friends and family but we hit upon a snag - we are both very camera shy and neither of us wanted to be in the photos.

"We thought it would be rather boring to take back photos just of the scenery, without something in them to personalise them as our own pictures.

"We were sat in a caf in Shanklin discussing this problem, when I posed an Isle of Wight teddy bear that we had brought so that it was sat with a cup of tea. I took a photo of it because it looked so cute and that was when we struck upon our idea.

"We decided to pose the bear in all of the photos we took. That way we had personalised photos but without either of us needing to be in it.

"As we toured the Island we attracted a lot of interest from other holidaymakers who were intrigued as to what we were doing. I think they thought we were mad."

When Judith and Christine returned home, their families and friends were so impressed by the photos they urged them to try and get the pictures of teddy published in a book.

"Christine's husband works in the printing industry," Judith explained.

"He spoke to a graphic designer that he knows who said it would be a fun idea but told us we needed to get permission from the makers of the teddy bear."

The teddy bear was made by Island postcard and gifts wholesalers, W.J. Nigh and Sons.

Managing director Terry Nigh was overjoyed with Judith's and Christine's proposed book.

He said: "We gave Judith and Christine our full seal of approval to go ahead and try and get the book published.

"We jumped at the chance to distribute the book for them. We have a range of more than 100 Isle of Wight publications, but there was nothing specifically for children.

"Judith and Christine wanted their book to be aimed at children, and there was a gap in the market for a book of that sort."

Judith and Christine put some money together to get the book published, and so Teddy's Guide to the Isle of Wight was born.

Terry added: "We introduced the book to the market just before Christmas and sales are already encouraging at the quietest time of the year for the Island."

The book is available from all good book and souvenir shops in the Island, priced £3.95.