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
ADORABLE EXOTIC KITTENS AT NASHVILLE ZOO
A BUMPER season of births has left zoo with three of the cutest exotic kittens you're likely to see .
WOMAN SAYS EATING BUBBLES WHILE PREGNANT WAS BETTER THAN SEX
A woman has told how her addiction to eating bath bubbles during her pregnancy was better than SEX .
ONE HUMP OR TWO? CAMEL ENJOYS BREAKFAST WITH FAMILY
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and for this greedy camel he can't get enough of his morning feed, as he gate crashes his owner's mealtime .
GOING BALLISTIC - 15 FOOT RED BALL ARTIST
This is the crazy art project that is going ballistic - placing a huge squishy 15ft red ball into tight spaces .
BRITAIN'S MOST INSPIRING CALENDAR GIRLS
Forget One Direction and Cheryl Cole, a new calendar is celebrating Britain's real heroes - the nation's most inspiring mums .
ANCIENT ABANDONED WEBSITES THAT STILL WORK TODAY
A host of websites that are almost twenty years old are collecting a cult following thanks to their retro appeal .
UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP
A brave cricket takes his chances as he sits on top of this green papua tree frog .
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 .
MESMERIZING STAR TRAILS
MESMERIZING night sky photographs offer a spellbinding look at the stars .
MOODY SEA TURTLE
PUSHING the diver out of his way, this little sea turtle shows he’s not in the mood for photographs .
DERELICT MANSION
With an abandoned tricycle sitting in an empty corridor, this derelict but once grand mansion could be the setting for The Shining .
SHARK SELFIES
NOT YOUR everyday selfie, this plucky diver poses with some of the scariest predators in the ocean .