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
CHINESE FISHERMEN FISHING WITH RARE TECHNIQUE
SAILING peacefully across a river in the early morning light, a fisherman in China keeps a 1000 year old tradition alive .
WOMAN’S 12YO SON BECAME HUMAN FIREBALL AFTER ‘TIKTOK FIREBALL CHALLENGE’ WENT WRONG – NOW HE’S SCARRED FOR LIFE
A mother-of-two has revealed how her son became a human fireball after a dangerous 'TikTok challenge' went wrong .
SPECTACULAR BODY ART
FROM COLOURFUL autumn leaves to living trees at first glance you might miss these people blended with nature .
TINY CHRISTMAS ANGEL, SIX, IS SIZE OF TWO YEAR OLD
Pint- size Maci Winters only has one wish this Christmas - to be as tall as the other boys and girls on the school playground .
SQUIRREL VS DINOSAUR
A feisty squirrel takes on a fearsome foe when he decides to tackle a T-REX .
I WON'T GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT MY STAB VEST, SAYS ATTACK VICTIM
A man who was stabbed ten times in a frenzied and random attack has told how, two years on, he is too scared to leave his house without his STAB VEST .
KILLED BY MAKE-UP - TRAGIC 18th CENTURY CELEB'S MIRROR AUCTIONED
She was the 18th century celebrity who made men faint in awe of her beauty by her very presence .
PUTIN'S TINY ARMY
Some parents would gasp at the thought of their children playing with a toy gun, but these Russian children are actually encouraged to take up real arms .
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 .
PREGOREXIC MUM GIVES BIRTH TO HEALTHY BABY
A mum who weighed just 8st 1lb at eight months pregnant has battled her eating disorder to give birth to a healthy baby girl .
HYPER-REALISTIC DINNER IS ACTUALLY DESSERT
From a platter of finger licking chicken wings to a bowl of Chinese noodle soup, these foodie snaps are enough to make your savoury saliva glands drool .
EYE-CATCHING TRIBAL HAIRSTYLES
BRAIDED, sculpted and beaded, these are the eye-catching hairstyles worn by the tribal women of Angola .