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
STABBED BY SON

Daniel Blore, 21, of Innage Crescent, Bridgnorth, stabbed his mother three times in the attack on January 11 this year, Stafford Crown Court heard .

SUNBATHING MEERKAT MAKES THE MOST OF UK SUN

LYING flat out on his back, this little meerkat makes the most of the English sunshine .

STREET FIGHTER CRAZE SPREADS TO LONDON

THE CRAZE for mimicking the video game Streetfighter has spread to the streets of London .

£34m TAX FRAUD RACKET JAILED

A man who conned tax officials out of £34 million and funded a lavish lifestyle of luxury hotels and restaurants has been jailed for one of the longest sentences in British criminal fraud history .

CHRISTMAS SNOWMAN ATTRACTS CURIOUS SQUIRREL

Peering curiously into a basket hanging off the arms of a snowman, this little squirrel appears fascinated by the snowy figure .

SINGING STOAT

MOUTH OPEN wide, this little stoat appears to be in mid-song as he belts out a tune for his onlookers .

VISOR FASHION FAIL

FROM motorcycling to department store shopping these spookily faceless people are part of the Chinese-fad for wearing protective solar-visors in public .

APPY CAMPING: COOKING STOVE CHARGES SMARTPHONES

Here's a APPY solution that should brighten up a wet weekend away camping - a wood powered stove that also recharges your smartphone .

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 PENGUINS HATCH AT UK ZOO

HOPPING onto the scales, these adorable baby Humboldt penguins are ready for their first weigh-in .

MICROBES OR FLAMINGOS

FLAMINGOS from above look like the pink algae they eat .

SOUTHERN CROSSED AURORA

YOU’VE heard of the northern lights now feast your eyes on the natural wonder of the SOUTHERN lights .