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
‘PEG-LEG’ AMPUTEE OVERCOMES BULLIES TO MODEL LINGERIE
An amputee who was cruelly nicknamed 'peg-leg' by school bullies has conquered her insecurities to become a model .
CHERNOBYL - 28 YEARS ON
TOMORROW (Saturday) marks the 28th anniversary of the nuclear disaster that left the city of Chernobyl devastated .
SMALLEST HOUSE IN THE UK
WELCOME to the pretty 122-inch-tall red dwelling that lays claim to the title of the UK's smallest house .
BATTY ABOUT BATMAN - MAN SPENDS £65K ON COLLECTION
Kevin Silva, 52 from Indiana in the USA, has spent an estimated £65K ($100K) on Batman trinkets over the years, and even keeps his 2,500-item haul in his very own basement 'Bat Cave' .
SNOW HITS BIRMINGHAM
More weather chaos is heading our way, with ice and snow already hitting areas across Birmingham .
MILLIONS OF LUMINOUS FISH DWARF DIVERS
SWIMMING in unison, millions of silverside fish dwarf the divers .
WELSH HOTEL ONCE HOME TO WWI SOLDIERS NOW LIES ABANDONED
A grand 56-bedroom hotel, once heaving with injured soldiers during the First World War, now lies completely abandoned .
AN ABANDONED HOUSE IN THE WOODS
INTIMATELY showcasing personal artefacts from a family's life, this abandoned bungalow has been left to rot for almost a decade .
BIRD FISHING
DIVING down at a speed of 75mph, this is the moment a hungry osprey caught his prey .
PHOTOGRAPHER CAPTURES UNIQUE PATTERNS OF THE HUMAN EYE
A Romanian photographer has captured the unique patterns of hundreds of human eyes in a series of striking macro shots .
BOY WHOSE BRAIN GREW IN NOSE IS REAL-LIFE PINOCCHIO
A little boy whose brain grew inside his nose has been described as the 'real-life Pinocchio' by his proud mum .
LIGHTHOUSES OVERLOOK GLOWING SUNRISES
The lighthouses of Brittany, from Brest to Le Conquet, stand tall on France’s north-western coast against stunning scenery .