REAL LIFE VICTORIAN
A woman has taken her house back in time - by spending £10,000 to transform it into her Victorian dream home. Quirky spinster Julia Wood, 42, lives her life like a 19th century lady and can often be seen leaving her terraced house wearing ankle length velvet and carrying a parasol. The self confessed "eccentric" has transformed all five rooms of her property in Leicester with late 19th or early 20th century decor. Her lounge, bathroom, bedroom and kitchen are filled with antique furniture, fireplaces and artefacts and even nude portraits complete with lighting from the period. She has a large mahogany mantle piece in her lounge and sips tea from an 1890s crockery set she says she bought for just £10. Her kitchen, which also acts a sitting room, includes an Edwardian day bed, wood burning stove, antique tub chair, pine table and even a black fridge. The author and writer, who has lived in the home for two years, is an avid Oscar Wilde fan and says she lives her life like a character from one of this plays. She said: "I must have a Victorian or Edwardian aura. I was just born in the wrong era. But Downton Abbey has changed things lately. Sales of long gloves have gone up hugely, I understand. All of a sudden I'm in fashion.
Other great stories
GIANT CANYON SWING
FORGET Thorpe Park this summer as this is a 50 mile-per-hour ride over the Colorado River CANYON .
ABANDONED CARE HOME LIES FORGOTTEN
BEHIND the doors of this building, with its stacks of mattresses and discarded remains of wheelchairs, lies another victim of austerity cuts .
MOTHER'S FEAR AFTER SUICIDE DAUGHTER’S STALKER RELEASED
A mother is living in fear after the stalker she holds responsible for her daughter's death is back on the streets, after serving just one year in prison .
ADORABLE SQUIRREL GETS READY FOR A SNOWBALL FIGHT
ROLLING up snow in its tiny paws, this little squirrel is looking for a snowball fight .
MUM SPENDS THOUSANDS ON FAKE BABIES INSTEAD OF HER REAL KIDS
A mum-of-two has splashed out £20k on her seven reborn dolls, but refuses to treat her real kids .
WOMAN REVEALS HOW DAUGHTER WAS STABBED TO DEATH BY VIOLENT EX WHILE HER CHILDREN WATCHED
A mother-of-four has revealed how her daughter was stabbed to death by her ex partner, while their horrified children watched on .
WORLD'S MOST IDYLLIC BOMB SITE BEAUTY
WELCOME to the Hidden Beach - the world's most idyllic BOMB SITE .
SISTERS BOTCHED NOSE JOBS AND £19.5K SURGERY BILL
Two sisters from Hampshire who suffered botched nose jobs have spent £19 .
MAN AND TOY PIG SEARCH WORLD FOR MISSING CUDDLY COMPANION
An Australian explorer has travelled the globe with a toy pig, known as Travel Piggy, in search of a missing cuddly companion .
CALIFORNIAN GHOST TOWN OF BODIE HILLS FROZEN IN TIME
An intrepid photographer travelled to the abandoned ghost town of Bodie in northern California to capture the historic buildings that are trapped in time .
CHEEKY CHIPMUNK
A chipmunk, with his cheeks full to bursting, has no intention of leaving with an empty stomach .