In the Daily Mail - English B&B owner becomes a celebrity in Japan

The owner of a picture-postcard B&B in the Cotswolds has become a cult celebrity in Japan - because her hotel was turned into a hit animated TV series.

Caron Cooper, 60, has even hosted the Japanese royal family at her cosy English hotel and been invited to share tea and scones with them in Tokyo.

Caron's serendipitous celebrity began after a chance meeting with a couple at a market stall in 1989. 

Shozo and Yasuko Mitani, mentioned that they were opening a British-themed B&B in Japan, so Caron invited them to visit her farmhouse.

They loved it so much they modelled large parts of their Japanese B&B on her home, and as it grew in popularity she began to receive an increasing number of Japanese visitors.

Her business then began featuring in Japanese magazines and on TV, and was the star of a major campaign to attract Japanese tourists to the UK.

Ms Cooper was then invited by the British Embassy in Japan to make tea and scones for the Japanese Royal Family at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

And in 1994, she returned the favour by hosting the Royal Family at Fosse Farmhouse in Castle Combe, Wiltshire for three nights.

Now she has become a well-known celebrity after a Japanese animation series 'Kinmoza' - which has its own comics, TV show and even film - was based on her home.