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
ON A WINGSUIT AND A PRAYER - FASTEST FLYING WOMAN IN THE WORLD
SOARING at 112 miles per hour through the air, this petite blonde certainly lives up to her title as the fastest flying woman in the world .
STORM CHASER PHOTOGRAPHS STUNNING EXTREME WEATHER
These photographs of extreme weather capture storms furiously rolling across the sky above America .
250 DRIVERS ARRESTED FOR STREET RACING IN BIRMINGHAM
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS - 250 DRIVERS ARRESTED FOR STREET RACING IN BIRMINGHAM- In Pic - The start line on the Heartlands Parkway Nechels Birmingham .
MAKING A SPLASH - GORILLA GOES APE IN WATER
While often referred to as the kings of the jungle, gorillas - for all their might - are notorious hydrophobes .
RARE BRONTE POEM FETCHES £92K AT AUCTION
A rare manuscript of one of Charlotte Bronte’s earliest poems went under the hammer today and fetched nearly £100,000 – double what it was expected to get .
SECRET POOL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT
HIDDEN in the middle of the Mojave Desert, a secret oasis awaits intrepid travellers .
IN FLIGHT MEAL
This is the amazing moment two white-tailed kites take an in-flight meal - exchanging prey at 100 foot high in mid air .
GRAVEYARDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
From the tails of fighter planes to black and white checked buildings, graveyards take different and unusual forms around the world .
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE BUG KIND
THIS alien-like bug would look more at home in outer-space but it can actually be found wriggling around here on Earth .
BEING BRITNEY'S LOOKALIKE HAS EARNED ME £300K
A former waitress who quit serving tables to become a professional Britney lookalike has told how her incredible likeness has earned her £300,000 as a full time doppelganger .
OLD BUS TRANSFORMED INTO AMAZING HOLIDAY LET
FULLY equipped with a kitchen and lounge, it's hard to believe this modern holiday let is actually a BUS .
MYSTERY OF THE CROOKED COTTAGE
THIS is the fascinating abandoned house, complete with mystery portraits and homely items, that has been dubbed - crooked cottage .