Inspired by a Renaissance masterpiece, created by one of the world's great architects, this bed has done a century's service for a country house's owners — and their very lucky pets
John Goodall talks to Sebastian Fenwick about his extraordinary bed, designed by the great Edwin Lutyens.
Sebastian Fenwick stands next to his bed at Shilstone House in Devon. Relatively unremarkable at first glance, you might think, but not once you discover that this elegant creation was designed by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, one of the most celebrated architects of the 20th century.
'I continue to sleep happily in it to this day', says Sebastian. And so do his pets.
Inspiration for it came from the bed in The Dream of St Ursula, painted by Vittore Carpaccio in 1497–98. This is one in a series of nine paintings depicting the saint’s legend that the artist originally created for the Scuola di Sant’Orsola, Venice, Italy.
The Dream of St. Ursula by Vittore Carpaccio is on display in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.
There are several versions of St Ursula’s legend. She was the daughter of a Christian king — some claim her as British — who was murdered with her 11,000 virgin companions. According to the 13th-century Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine, the angel of the dream foretold her martyrdom.
‘One of Lutyens’s daughters was called Ursula,’ explains Mr Fenwick, ‘and I understand there is a pair of children’s Ursula beds at her old home in Northumberland.
'Lutyens also had an Ursula bed at his home in London,' he continues. 'My grandmother, Violet, who inherited her father’s habit of buying and building houses, commissioned Lutyens to design and enlarge Temple Dinsley, Hertfordshire.
'They became good friends and Lutyens was made godfather to her eldest son, my father. This bed was his christening present to him and I continue to sleep happily in it to this day.
'Shilstone, which I and my wife, Lucy, designed and built, takes inspiration from Lutyens’s work and is a testament to my admiration for his attention to detail and eye for the aesthetic.’
The drawing room door, as featured in our 2023 article on Shilstone House,
This feature originally appeared in the June 3, 2026, print edition of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe. Visit Shilstone's website to find out more.
