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Blessed with the ability to sleep pretty much anywhere, I can regularly be found napping on the sofa on Sunday afternoons, and have no trouble dozing through train journeys and car rides. But unfortunately, my luck only seems to extend to times when I’m out of the house. Not only am I constantly bothered by back pain (I’ll put that down to my 6-foot stature), but I seem to be one of those people who is constantly plagued with allergies at bedtime. At this point, even the very best mattresses didn't stand a chance at helping. Or so I thought.
Whether it was my tossing and turning to try and ward off the backache, or the sudden emergence of my sniffing and sneezing throughout the night, I was starting to feel like I was walking on very thin ice with my overtired boyfriend. That was until we switched things up with the Feather & Black x Harrison Spinks Bennett Mattress. Incorporating six layers of pocket springs and hypoallergenic wool, it fully stands its ground (in our humble opinon) as one of the best mattresses for allergy sufferers around, just as comfortable as the most advanced hybrids and memory foam designs and also one of the best mattresses for back pain.
Considering we both measure in at over 6ft tall, it’s no surprise that back pain is common in my relationship. So — as well as being sumptuously soft — finding a mattress that provides superior levels of support was of the utmost importance.
With 3,250 springs to be found in every double mattress, the team at Harrison Spinks certainly doesn’t scrimp on their springs. Working in tandem with the rest of the mattress, the layers of high-density micro springs have been designed to adapt to the body’s contours as you sleep and relieve pressure, while the groundbreaking Cortec™ core pocket springs provide complete stability, and work individually to precisely and accurately support each individual part of the body.
In the medium tension, we’ve found it to be a spot-on mattress if — like us — you like the idea of sleeping on a cloud in-theory, but you realistically need to be relatively grounded if you want to avoid waking up with any aches and pains.
With the back pain sorted, or at least supported, it was only the sniffles left. And having heard of wool's magical hypoallergenic powers, I was intrigued to see if a wool mattress provided me with any much-needed allergy relief. Not only do I have hayfever, but I’m also really susceptible to environmental allergens like dust and dust mites — so my sneezing and heavy breathing is always an issue, regardless of the season.
With its six rich layers of naturally hypoallergenic and antibacterial British wool, the Bennett mattress has made a remarkable difference to how congested I feel at night time, and I’ve definitely noticed that I’m considerably less sniffly. The entire mattress as a whole doesn't come with a hypoallergenic label, but wool itself has plenty of anti-allergy benefits. Safe to say, my boyfriend is delighted that my sneezing is no longer the soundtrack to his attempts at sleeping.
The only UK bedmaker that grows their own fillings, all Harrison Spinks mattresses are made using hemp fibres, linen flax, and wool from the flock of sheeps that reside on their 300 acres of prime farmland in Yorkshire, including this collaboration with Feather & Black. Keen to be crowned the UK’s most sustainable bedmaker, all the brand's mattresses are made without any foam or glue — and all their fabrics are chemical-free, and woven on-site in order to cut down on unnecessary transportation emissions. So, you can sleep soundly with the knowledge that you’re supporting a truly sustainable UK brand.
Yes. Thanks to the lack of sniffles, I’m finding it far easier to fall asleep — and the significant upgrade in support for my back means I’m waking up far less in the night. On the downside, being far more rested means I’ve now got no excuse for falling asleep in the middle of whatever tedious film my boyfriend has picked. So that’s great…
£1,199. At featherandblack.com
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