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
BRITISH BEACH-LIFE SPLIT SHOTS

UNDERWATER and above-water seaside shots show the best of British beach-life .

LOVE BIRDS

THESE LOVE BIRDS can’t keep their beaks off each other as they share a very public display of affection .

HEROIC BURNS SURVIVOR BECOMES FIREFIGHTER

An American man who suffered horrific third-degree burns to 70 percent of his body in a childhood accident has faced his fears by becoming a firefighter .

ADORABLE BEAR CUBS SHARE A HUG

ROLLING around in the snow, these young brown bears take a break from their play fight to share a tender hug with one another .

DAUGHTER’S MIRACLE SURVIVAL AFTER POTATO PAN BURNT 36% OF HER BODY - DOCS WARNED SHE WOULDN’T MAKE IT

In June 2023, Aimee da Cunha, 33, from Perth, Australia, was boiling potatoes on the stove when her two-year-old daughter, Hailey, knocked the pan of water over her .

UNUSUAL ANIMAL FRIENDSHIP

SAT ON top of a Brazilian turtle’s head, this little ladybird looks content as he studies his environment from a new height .

YOGI - BEAR - POLAR CUBS MORNING BEAR-ROBICS

A young polar bear cub becomes the yogi bear as she stretches off for a morning aerobics session .

AMAZING PEN ART

FROM THE world famous Girl with a Pearl Earring painting to a jaguar in the grass, these incredible drawings are created from coloured ballpoint pens .

ADORABLE NEWBORN SEALS PLAY IN SNOW

WITH THEIR adorable big round eyes and fluffy white fur, these baby seals are cute enough to melt any heart .

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER BEAR

An American black bear mimics John Travolta’s famous Saturday Night Fever dance move by hurling its arm in the air .

POLAR BEAR STRETCHES

Raising his arms above his head and lying flat on his back, a polar bear stretches as he sprawls out across the ice .

FISH AND BIRD TANGO

A trout manages to escape the jaws of a hungry cormorant - only to find itself back inside the bird's long beak .