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
CUTE MINI LION
MEET the little lion of suburbia with a mane that makes him look like a mini-king of the jungle .
SO ALLERGIC TO WATER I CAN'T EVEN KISS MY FIANCE
A woman with a rare allergy to water has told how the condition is so severe it prevents her from KISSING her fiance .
MY 20 YEAR SECRET - IT'S NOT ALOPECIA OR CANCER, I HAVE TRICHOTILLOMANIA
A mum who has hid behind the hair loss condition alopecia for the last 20 years has bravely revealed a secret compulsion to tear out her own hair that has tormented her since she was a child .
BOARDER” COLLIES AND SURF MAD MUTTS HIT THE WAVES
Dogs catch waves at the Coronado Bay dog surf championships Saturday 22nd June 2013- DOG SURFING mutts have never looked so gnarly .
BABY BABOON GOES BANANAS FOR ACROBATIC MONKEY
Most people bend over backwards to keep children entertained, but this baboon show us how it’s done .
KUNG-FU FROG IMITATES KARATE KID
Balanced on one leg, a frog assumes the crane kick martial arts stance made famous in the movie The Karate Kid .
WOMAN TOO SCARED TO LEAVE HOUSE AFTER HORROR HAIR DYE REACTION
A woman who suffered from an allergic reaction to hair dye that made her face swell to twice its size has been left too scared to leave the house .
OWNER PREVENTED FROM FINDING CAT UNDER DATA PROTECTION ACT
A mother has spoken of her outrage after discovering her missing cat had been stolen - only to be told she cannot have its location due to the Data Protection Act .
UK'S STRONGEST SCHOOLGIRL
THE UK’S STRONGEST SCHOOLGIRL attributes her success to the bendy-body condition that once left her body wracked in pain .
DAREDEVIL DIVERS HAVE A WHALE OF A TIME
SWIMMING next to 40 tonne whales, dare-devil divers take the plunge with these gentle giants of the sea .
GREAT-GRANDMA SPLASHES £48K ON FAKE BABY COLLECTION
A retired foster carer has spent a whopping £48k on her brood of lifelike dolls .
STORM CHASER PHOTOGRAPHS STUNNING EXTREME WEATHER
These photographs of extreme weather capture storms furiously rolling across the sky above America .