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Sculpting Cumbria

David Williams-Ellis refurbished farmhouse in Cumbria

David Williams-Ellis is an internationally renowned sculptor, famous for his life-like nudes in bronze. His great uncle, Clough Williams-Ellis was the architect who built the Italianate village of Portmeiron in North Wales. David and his wife, Serena, inherited an old farmhouse from her grandfather seventeen years ago and renovated it, building a substantial tower at one end which David describes as ‘a Cumbrian medieval fortification or a Tuscan folly depending on how you look at it.’ Serena is an interior designer and so their home reflects her love of exotic textiles and rich colour. Serena’s keen eye for detail means the house remains elegant and comfortable while being a happy, rambling family home in which they’ve brought up their three children. The house stands on the edge of an escarpment overlooking a valley which is a beautiful, wild setting for David’s sculpture and there are bronzes everywhere - by the front door, springing from a barn roof or dancing round a pond. David’s impressive studio, full of gigantic figures, is in a barn adjacent to the house and next to a big office from which Serena runs her design business