Hi Elaine,

Many thanks for your email about Glencraft mattress comparisons and reviews.

Glencraft is a great mattress company based up in Scotland that have a very similar build and ethos to our mattresses. Ie quality before sales spin. So you're definitely looking at high-end well-made mattresses. A far cry from the mass-produced synthetic entry-level models that other retailers maybe flogging!

Glencraft has supplied 4 generations of the British Royal Family at Balmoral Castle and have a really detailed website with their mattress models. Again a massive thumbs up from us!

Let's have a further look at the Marcliffe to see if any of our mattress models compare to give you some food for thought with your new mattress.

Glencraft Marcliffe Mattress Specifications:

To be able to fully advise on any alternative mattresses we need to take a deeper look at the Glencraft mattress. Like we always advocate you need to know exactly what each layer comprises of and the various detail layers.

The Marcliffe Mattress Layers

• 1500 Pocket Sprung Design
• Horsehair, Cashmere & Mohair Layers
• Needled Wool & Cotton Layers
• Wool, Cashmere & Silk
• Egyptian Cotton

Looking on their website it looks like they are using a synthetic pocket spring unit - the white cover gives it away on the image. Sadly there is no further details on the product listing about the spring tension or wire gauge which helps you work out which tension you require. Looking further on their listing they do have 3 comfort preferences of soft, medium and firm which we would guess actually relates to the spring and not the mattress comfort layers.

There has been a big marketing exercise with major bed retailers about the mattress firmness in different grades. However, in them doing this is has led to customers becoming confused between spring tensions (which are based solely on bodyweight) and comfort preferences (which are usually created solely by the upholstery layers on top). This muddying of the waters has caused a number of customers to end up with the wrong spring tension.

To help you need to firstly select the spring tension based on your height and weight. Then look to the upholstery layers to then decide how the mattress will feel (ie softer or firmer).

Bodyweight	Spring tension
Upto 16 Stone / 50-101kg	Medium (1.4mm)
16 Stone / 101kg Upwards	Firm (1.6mm)
Available in Bespoke Products (Please Call)	Soft (1.2mm)

Understanding Mattress Comfort:

The next thing to do is assess the layers in the Glencraft mattress to see how they will perform in terms of comfort. What's lovely with this Glencraft Marcliffe model is the fibres are all-natural. This means it will be breathable and far more resilient than say a synthetic polyester or memory foam filled mattress.

Sadly there's no real detail on the depth or grams per square meter of these fibres so it's hard to tell exactly how it will feel with precision. However, looking at the composition of horse hair, cashmere and mohair this will act as a firmer supportive layer. There are then softer fibres on top. So we would put money on it being more of a medium feel mattress in the comfort layers. The horsetail will be what gives it its 'healthy bounce' as described on the Glencraft site.

It's a 2 sided mattress which is wonderful news as so many models are now opting for cheaper one-sided versions. Which serves the customer no purpose other than manufacturers saving money and you ending up with a shorter lifespan for your mattress.

What is similar to the Glencraft Marcliffe Mattress?:

Based on the detail on their site, it looks like a medium feel mattress with a synthetic spun-bond pocket spring unit in a tailored pocket spring tension.

The nearest equivalent (without knowing the exact GSM and details) is our Artisan Bespoke 004 mattress. The biggest difference is that we use a vanadium coated calico encased pocket spring which are far more responsive than synthetic pocket springs and more breathable. So they tend to react a bit quicker and also help reduce heat. The feel of this mattress should be comparable on paper to the Marcliffe. It's also around 3cm-5cm deeper than the 24cm deep Marcliffe.

At the time of writing this it's about £300 cheaper when comparing a king-size mattress only offering.

Artisan Bespoke 004 Mattress

1: 1200GSM BLENDED BRITISH FLEECE WOOL AND COTTON

2: HAIRPROOF CAMBRIC COVER

3: 200GSM SOFT BAMBOO

4: 1200GSM PURE HORSETAIL

5: 1000GSM BONDED BRITISH FLEECE WOOL AND COTTON

6: 1600 CALICO ENCASED POCKET SPRINGS [ 49MM ] [1.28MM]

TOTAL: 3600GSM

DEPTH: 27-30CM

CHEMICAL FREE COVER

If you need more help please feel free to contact us on 0161 437 4419 or on info@localhost.

All the best

John & Ryan