NICOLA Smith is a self confessed arctophile, but her passion for bears is restricted to just one well-known member of the species - Winnie the Pooh.

For those not in the know, an arctophile is a collector of teddy bears.

And, standing testimony to her fondness for Pooh and his pals is the 23-year-old's collection of copies, which has now reached a staggering 1,200.

The hoard of fur, fabric, china, porcelain and glass collectables are not nestling in Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood but in lines of open fronted cupboards in Nicola's bedroom in Victoria Court, Ushaw Moor, near Durham.

"It all started when I was on a catering course in 1998 and we had to choose a subject for a theme night," said Nicola, who works at the Queen's Head pub, in Gilesgate, near Durham.

Nicola's choice was Winnie the Pooh, and the rest, as she says, is history.

From that moment on, she began to collect anything to do with the honey-loving bear with a vengeance.

Even after amassing such a huge collection of soft toys and ornaments, Nicola says she has no intention of calling a halt on her collection.

"It's an obsession now and I'm always on the look-out for bears and ornaments all the time,'' said Nicola, whose dream acquisition would be a Steiff Winnie the Pooh.

But she knows she will have to save up if she wants a Pooh bear by the famous German teddy bear-maker.

Dominating her existing collection is a 32in Pooh bear, which takes pride of place in her ordered rows of look-a-likes.

So far, the collection hasn't spilled over into the rest of her home and her parents Billy and Christine have placed no restrictions on their daughter's collection.

But a measure of just how important Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and the rest of the gang are to Nicola came when her boyfriend, Ian Major, asked her to move in with him.

"I couldn't, because there just wasn't enough room for my collection!" she said.