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A 'teddy bear town' is set to be built in China - and it'll feature a host of all of the country's favourite British icons.

Great British Teddy Bear Town is set to open next March seven miles outside of the Chinese capital Beijing.

But as well as the familiar furry faces of stuffed bears, it will also feature a scale replica of Buckingham Palace along with teddy bear Royal Family and changing of the guard.

The Anglophilia even extends to Stonehenge, Robin Hood, Knights of the Round Table and Sherlock detective hunts, along with themed food courts, adventure playgrounds and its own Shakespeare theatre and Florence Nightingale Nursery.

The deal made by UK businessman Paul Jessup - who owns The Great British Teddy Bear Company - with the Chinese government is worth £20m, and it's all because a Chinese worker visited London as a tourist and took home one of his firm’s Sherlock bears on Baker Street.

The souvenir gave them the idea to create a 1,000-acre tourism town, the first of a number of low-carbon towns.

Paul signed a 20-year deal at £1.2m a year to design and give China the rights to use his company name, backed by UK Trade and Investment.

The Great British Teddy Bears - endorsed by the Duchess of Cambridge and celebrities like Ewan McGregor - has become a top brand in China.

Paul said that he is also talking to other British brands about opportunities to showcase their business in the theme town

Mr Jessup , husband of former Loose Women Lisa Maxwell, said: “The Great British Teddy Bear Company is delighted to be working with China designing a unique Teddy Bear Town packed with culture and history. It will be a first-of-its-kind interactive celebration of all things British.

“The Great British Teddy Bear Town will be packed with Britain’s biggest cultural and historical icons - from Sherlock Holmes to the Royal Family.

“The Museum will feature ‘Teddy Bear Tours’ of Great Britain with exciting and imaginative installations, as well as Shakespeare's Teddy Bear Theatre, Robin Hood’s Tree House Adventure and Beefeater Bears Food Court each hosted by British workers acting as cultural ambassadors.

“We are proud to be British and will be introducing other major brands to our new friends in China to create a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our visitors who want to learn more about Britain and what makes it so great.”

It will be built in Beijing’s Daxing District as a key pilot implemented by the Chinese Government to create an ecological “parkland paradise”.

Families will also enjoy traditional leisure activities such as horse-riding, camping, art galleries, as well as seeing thousands of Paul’s cuddly characters featured in both static and interactive exhibits.

Mr Jessup explained how the background to the idea to create a Teddy Bear Town in China was thanks to another Great British institution adored by the Chinese...Sherlock Holmes.

Nearly 70 million people in China watched the BBC series of Sherlock over the internet - even though Chinese TV is not allowed to screen it.

Mr Jessup said: “One of the Project Managers came to London as a student, and visited the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes – 221b Baker Street – she bought a Great British Sherlock Holmes Teddy Bear as a souvenir and returned to China.

“When it came to choosing the best brand to theme a Teddy Bear Town, you might say it was ‘elementary’!”