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The Little Green Sheep has been crafting high-quality, eco-friendly mattresses from its base in Stratford-Upon-Avon since 2007, but there’s a reason you may not recall the name as easily as Emma, Simba, Nectar or other major mattress brands: before now, it made children’s beds. That means Moses baskets, cot mattresses, cosy natural cotton sleepwear… you get the gist. But now, Little Green Sheep’s pocket sprung mattress for adults deserves your attention, whether you're a mother, father, or someone who views kids as mere pub garden pests.
The phrase “sleep like a baby” exists for a reason, so who better to deliver the experience than a brand with 17 years of expertise in fine-tuning the perfect sleep environment for tots? Truth be told, we’re absolutely gaga for this mattress. And that's coming from someone in their thirties.
Applying the principles of all that makes babies sleep like their proverbial selves into an adult mattress is a stroke of business genius when you think about it. Little Green Sheep’s adult-size mattresses – available in single, small double, double, king and super-king sizes – are a natural evolution of its acclaimed Natural Twist mattress, a supremely well-reviewed product and a Mother & Baby award winner, no less.
The features that parents seek in a mattress for their sprogs translates beautifully into these larger versions. The production process is entirely free from toxins, harmful chemicals and fire retardant sprays, ensuring a pure and healthy sleep environment. It’s also naturally insulating, helping to regulate body temperature, while its high breathability was particularly appreciated during the humid August nights in which I tested it.
The addition of ultra-soft wool enhances the mattress’s natural moisture-wicking abilities, making it an excellent choice for those prone to waking up in a puddle of their own sweat (speaking from a friend’s experience, of course). Plus, its hypoallergenic properties are a big bonus for anyone with sensitivities.
One aspect that adults might weigh more carefully than Little Green Sheep’s regular under-five clientele is mattress firmness. While the brand doesn’t offer a selection of tailored firmness options to choose from in the same way some of today’s competitors do, it provides a dual-sided mattress with medium and medium-firm support. After testing each side, I found that they both lean toward the firmer end of the spectrum – a welcome feature for my sleep style (and a spine that’s ageing at twice the speed of its host body), but this could be a drawback for those who prefer that softer, more cushioned feel.
Using coconut coir as the key natural material in its materials, means three things: 1) it’s eco-friendly and biodegradable (unlike synthetic materials commonly found in mattresses), 2) It’s durable (meaning it should last you), and 3) it provides a firm, naturally springy and porous base that lends to the excellent airflow I’ve already raved about.
All of it is encased in certified organic cotton, grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, ensuring every element of this mattress exemplifies Little Green Sheep’s commitment to creating products that are as kind to the planet as they are to those who sleep on them. The cherry on top? Little Green Sheep’s dedication to sustainability extends to its manufacturing and delivery processes: each mattress is made to order, ensuring minimal waste but still dispatched within approximately two weeks.
So where does Little Green Sheep stack up against today’s stiff (and soft) competition? At over £1,500 for a double, there’s no getting around the fact it’ll set you back a good chunk more than popular and more prolifically-marketed brands. With that said, our initial impression is that this mattress more than justifies its price point.
Given we should be spending a third of our lifetimes splayed out on these things, it’s surely the special details that have gone into Little Green Sheep’s mattresses that should be vying for our investment. Its comfort levels are very noticeably better than the cheaper mattress I’d been using previously — to the extent that even in a short space of time, my persistent backache felt reduced and my sleep quality richer and deeper. Plus, just as I feel uplifted wearing the well-made knitwear I dropped an unreasonably large sum on, this mattress’s eco-friendly credentials and craftsmanship really do help me get to sleep at night.
The proliferation of mass-market mattress-in-a-box brands worked for me once, but Little Green Sheep is for those more discerning sleepers who’ve decided they won’t settle for subpar. When you think about it like that, its first adult mattress is great value.
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