diff --git a/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py b/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py
index 65ef687a04..0fff96b230 100644
--- a/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py
+++ b/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ class Field(object):
         if self.default is not NOT_PROVIDED:
             if callable(self.default):
                 return self.default()
-            return self.default
+            return force_unicode(self.default, strings_only=True)
         if not self.empty_strings_allowed or (self.null and settings.DATABASE_ENGINE != 'oracle'):
             return None
         return ""
diff --git a/tests/modeltests/basic/models.py b/tests/modeltests/basic/models.py
index 58770ef2ce..2f4b932fe0 100644
--- a/tests/modeltests/basic/models.py
+++ b/tests/modeltests/basic/models.py
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ TypeError: 'foo' is an invalid keyword argument for this function
 >>> a6 = Article(pub_date=datetime(2005, 7, 31))
 >>> a6.save()
 >>> a6.headline
-'Default headline'
+u'Default headline'
 
 # For DateTimeFields, Django saves as much precision (in seconds) as you
 # give it.
diff --git a/tests/modeltests/field_defaults/models.py b/tests/modeltests/field_defaults/models.py
index 23c4733b8f..1132f1ca41 100644
--- a/tests/modeltests/field_defaults/models.py
+++ b/tests/modeltests/field_defaults/models.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ __test__ = {'API_TESTS':"""
 
 # Access database columns via Python attributes.
 >>> a.headline
-'Default headline'
+u'Default headline'
 
 # make sure the two dates are sufficiently close
 >>> d = now - a.pub_date
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/i18n/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/i18n/models.py
index e69de29bb2..e1eefb8477 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/i18n/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/i18n/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+from django.db import models
+from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
+
+class TestModel(models.Model):
+    text = models.CharField(max_length=10, default=_('Anything'))
+
+__test__ = {'API_TESTS': '''
+>>> tm = TestModel()
+>>> tm.save()
+'''
+}
+