Nights of old: Four-poster is Britain's oldest bed slept in by 15 generations of same family
With an ornately-carved headboard, it has been the luxury resting place for residents of Berkeley Castle
IF you’re looking for a good knight’s kip this 400-year-old bed ticks all the boxes.
The ancient four-poster has been slept in by FIFTEEN generations of the same aristocratic family.
And it is believed to be the oldest still in use in Britain.
With an ornately-carved headboard, it has been the luxury resting place for residents of the Berkeley Castle estate in Gloucestershire since at least 1608.
Far from roping it off as a museum piece, current owners John Berkeley, 81, and wife Georgina, 73, still regularly tuck themselves up in it in the castle’s Great State Bedroom.
Georgina said: “Despite its great age, it is the most comfortable bed in the castle. Sleeping in it conveys a real feeling of British history.”
The bed is listed on an inventory taken on September 20 1608 bur experts say the bed posts could date back to 1560.