Hi Martin,

Many thanks for your question about choosing the best natural fibre mattress. We're glad you've found us as buying a new bed can be rather complicated these days. It shouldn't be but many retailers like to bamboozle and confuse customers.

Jones & Tomlin have a large range of both synthetic and natural fibres mattresses. Which we will help provide some mattress guidance on in our answer below.

We'll answer your question point by point to help lay out the information you've requested as clearly as possible. Hopefully, this will help other new bed buyers choose the correct bed too!

1. Kingsize mattresses that are not too heavy:

Kingsize mattresses are the most popular UK size. More and more brits are looking for a more spacious mattress and the king size gives enough space so that each sleeper can turn move and not be constantly wacking the other sleeper in the face with sleepy limbs.

In terms of the weight, you're going to run into a struggle if you're looking for a lightweight mattress over all your other requirements. The reason for this is that any well made quality natural fibre mattress will be heavier than a cheaper polyester or foam-filled counterpart. You can see the weights of our mattresses here but you're looking at around 55-65kg depending on the volume of fillings.

One suggestion if you know that a one-piece is going to be too heavy to turn and rotate each month (which you must do to avoid settlement with any mattress) is to choose a zip and link version.

A zip and link is two mattresses that zip together seamlessly in the middle. It means that turning the bed is a doddle and it also helps reduce transferences (movement at night) between sleepers. So we would recommend looking at Zip and link versions of the mattresses we recommend.

2. Best 100% Natural fibre mattress:

You've come to the right place looking for a 100% natural fibre mattress. Our Artisan hand made mattress range features 100% natural fibre models all with the highest quality calico encased vanadium coated pocket springs (a bit of a mouthful we know!).

For other readers natural fibres are preferable over synthetic fibres in a mattress for a number of reasons listed below:

• Natural fibres last far longer than foams and polyester
• They are more breathable and high wicking leading to a more comfortable nights sleep
• Natural fibres offer far greater resilience and loft than synthetic bed fibres
• They use less harsh chemicals and synthetic products for a more eco sleep experience
• Natural fibres are far cooler to sleep on and regulate temperatures better

3. Long-lasting mattresses:

As we've already mentioned you're on the right track in choosing a natural fibre hand made mattress if you want a bed to last. What's really important when looking for a new mattress is to know the exact grams per square meter of fibres contained within. Without this, you really are guessing.

One example with the Jones & Tomlin Enchanted house Kennerleigh mattress shows how difficult this can be:

3,000 pocketed springs in a mattress upholstered with Dartmoor Shepherd wool, Dartmoor Wool, Hand Teased Horse Tail, and Alpaca, all finished with four rows of hand side stitching. 

Taken from https://www.jonesandtomlin.co.uk/product/enchanted-house-kennerleigh-bed/

The missing details are what are the weights in grams per square meter of the fibres? Which order are they layered in? This helps show how the bed will feel. What gauge are the springs? This is a dual-layer mattress looking at the spring count but this is omitted. Is there edge support for this? etc.

You've mentioned guarantees which are really important buying a new bed. All of our beds come with a full guarantee (not a proportional warranty that you can read about here where retailers try and claim you only deserve a proportion of the cost back if the bed fails).

The longest-lasting mattresses will all have a high-end pocket spring unit, usually, calico encased which allows them to breathe and at least if not more than 1500GSM of natural fibre fillings. Most of our Artisan mattresses have in excess of double that. A two-sided mattress is essential as one-sided beds mean you can only ever sleep on half or one side of the mattress. What a con!

4. Best supportive mattress:

Mattress support is a detail that is often overlooked in retail stores or at worst incorrectly described to customers looking for a new mattress. Let's clear this up.

Mattress support should always be determined by the sleepers bodyweight - not the comfort preference which is provided by the upholstery or natural fibres.

Have a look below to see which spring tension you should select. You should both really be on a 1.4 medium gauge. A soft would probably be too unsupportive for your partner based on experience.

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)

It's then a matter of choosing comfort layers of upholstery to provide the feel. From the sound of it, you could both do with a medium feel mattress with a bit of give in the very top later hence your bony-ness!

5. Best value for money mattress:

Given you can spend up to £100,000 on a mattress (you read that correctly) there's a huge expanse between cheap, value and expensive luxury). The table below will give you an idea of what to spend but for a natural fibre, hand made mattress anywhere between £1500-£4,000 is about right. Obviously its size-dependent and all rides on exactly what is inside the mattress.

How much to spend on a double mattress?	What can I expect for my money?
Under £500	Will not get you much at best a 13.5 gauge open coil/cage sprung with a thin polyester layer or a solid foam mattress.
£500	Entry level spunbond springs with some form of synthetic upholstery. Usually one sided mattresses.
£750	The beginnings of a basic pocket springs unit with 800 – 1000 count. No substantial amount of filling other than foams and synthetic materials. Two sided models.
£1000	Should get you away from most low ranges and into the mid-range pocket spring models.
£1250	Should get you a decent pocket sprung mattress with some Natural Fibre content.
£1500	Should get you many manufacturers mid-range models with Natural Fibres
£1500-£2000	Should get you a Hand Made primarily Natural Fibre Quality Mattress
£2000+	You should expect 100% Natural Fibres and Traditional Hand Made Construction Method.
£5000+	A Bespoke Hand Made Sleep System, High-end Spring Units & Featuring the Worlds Most Luxurious Natural Fibres.

6. What's the Enchanted House 'Kennerleigh' Mattress like?

You may by now have guessed that to compare and evaluate any mattress you need to know

• Pocket spring type, gauge and count
• Grams per square meter of upholstery fillings
• What layers the fillings are in
• Other mattress details like guarantee, whether its turnable etc

Sadly with the limited information, it's almost impossible to say whether this is good value, suitable or provide any more feedback. Given the details on the Jones and Tomlin website are so scarce which is a shame! Have a look at our Mattress Compare Database here to see the kind of details you should be looking for.

What's the best Medium 100% Natural Mattress?

The Artisan Bespoke 004 is a 100% natural fibre mattress in a true medium comfort tension. Ie the fibres give a slight sink before medium support.

It has a medium feel in the natural upholstery with a forgiving top layer. Great for pressure points and bad backs. The 1600 individual pocket springs allow restless sleepers to move quickly, freely and effortlessly. This is available in a king size zip and link making it a doddle to turn as although its 61kg total weight, this is split into two 30kg smaller mattresses. It is available in a double which weights 52kg.


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 - 10 Year Guarantee

If you have any more mattress related questions please get back in touch on info@localhost or 0161 437 4419. We've also added our beginner's mattress buying bed below to help summarise everything you need to know before you buy a new bed Martin.

Sleep well
John & Ryan