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
HUBBY DRUGGED THEN RAPED ME FROM AGED 15 AND I GOT JUSTICE 30 YEARS LATER

Tina O’Brien, 54, from East Midlands, met Frederick Allchorne, now 62, when she was 15 .

I LOST 12 STONE…AND MY VIRGINITY!

A former food addict who had spent her whole life dreaming of romance shed an astonishing 12st 7lbs to experience love for the first time .

ADORABLE BABY ORANGUTAN PLAYS WITH MUM

TUGGING at his exhausted mum's ears, a beautiful baby orangutan refuses to settle for a nap as he begins a game of peek-a-boo .

HUNDREDS OF HOT AIR BALLOONS DECORATE TURKISH SKY

HUNDREDS of hot air balloons decorate the sky above Turkey as the rising sun illuminates the spectacular scenery below .

MYSTERY OF THE CROOKED COTTAGE

THIS is the fascinating abandoned house, complete with mystery portraits and homely items, that has been dubbed - crooked cottage .

MAN LOSES 20 STONE AFTER FOOD ADDICTION RUNS UP £15K DEBT

A man has lost an incredible 20st after his addiction to food left him £15k in debt .

RED SMOKE AT NIGHT, VOLCANO SPOTTERS DELIGHT

With the vivid red smoke billowing into the sky amid the misty sand dunes, these are the blissful views provided at the break of dawn at a volcano .

‘WORLD’S SMALLEST CINEMA’ IN OAP’S HOUSE

Pic By HotSpot Media - ‘WORLD’S SMALLEST CINEMA’ IN OAP’S HOUSE -IN PIC- AN OAP film buff has brought the big screen to his home and built the world's smallest cinema in his BEDROOM .

ARRR-DORABLE ONE-EYED PIRATE KITTEN

AN ADORABLE one-eyed kitten has been dubbed the 'pirate cat' because of his pirate-like facial expressions .

HOUSEWORK-OUT

STEPFORD wives from the 1950's and 60's are performing history's most sexist exercise programme .

INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF INDIANS

An Italian photographer travelled to northern India where he visited poverty stricken suburbs and captured ordinary people in a series of intimate and expressive portraits .

MANDELA MEMORIAL

Thousands of people are gathering at a stadium in Johannesburg for a memorial service for Nelson Mandela .