Alice Liddell was just a ten-year-old living in Oxford in the 1860s when Charles Dodgson - better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll - spun a fantastical tale to her and her two sisters Edith and Lorina on a golden summer afternoon by the River Thames. 

Implored by the persuasive young Alice, Dodgson wrote down and illustrated his stories, which became one of the most famous children’s books of all time Alice in Wonderland.

On 21 April, a magnificent four-poster bed belonging to the real Alice (who became Mrs Hargreaves) is coming to auction at Chorley’s Auctioneers (estimate £1,500-2,000). The bed was originally in the guest bedroom at Cuffnells, the home near Lyndhurst in Hampshire, where she lived with her husband Reginald and their three sons in the late 19th and early 20th century. The couple hosted many distinguished visitors for cricket and shooting weekends. Alice’s father, the academic Dean Liddell, and her nine brothers and sisters and their wives and husbands also enjoyed nights at Cuffnells.

Following Alice’s death in 1933, the bed passed to her son Caryl, and later to his daughter Mary Jean, who has slept in it ever since. Now in her 90s, Mary Jean has reluctantly decided to offer this bed with its illustrious history so a new owner can enjoy its story and elegance.

Cleo St Clair (left), great great great granddaughter of Alice Liddell, and Mary Jean St Clair (right), granddaughter of Alice Liddell, with their ancestor’s four-poster bed

"Items belonging to the original Alice rarely come up for sale

and this is as close as one can come to stepping through the looking glass into Wonderland itself,"

said Thomas Jenner-Fust, Director of Chorley's Auctioneers.

"The world knows the dream, the provenance is exceptional, and we expect strong international interest."

The unique Regency bed will feature in Chorley's Country House Sale on 21 & 22 April 2026 at Prinknash Abbey Park.