Devon Duvets Blog

There are so many things about the menopause that no one tells you about, so when it happens, some of the symptoms* can be quite a nasty surprise. Everyone is different but these can range from hot flushes to brain fog (remind me why I went into the kitchen again) to difficulty in concentrating, and from achy joints first thing in the morning to heart palpitations. Even crying for some bizarre reason over what appears - to everyone else - to be a totally innocuous TV advert.

Probably the worst thing of all is suffering from those debilitating ‘keep waking up every hour’ night sweats. So, it might surprise you to know that the type of bedding you sleep in can make a huge difference in helping you to get a more restful night. Synthetic bedding can make you feel even more uncomfortable, so we’d always recommend choosing 100% natural bedding. The last type of bedding that you might expect to be of help is…wool. 

Most people associate wool with the colder months an

Most of us associate wool with cold weather – and certainly our fabulous, super soft, high tog duvets are perfect for snuggling in the Winter months. However, the great thing about wool is that because it is a 100% natural material, it is breathable and therefore temperature regulating.

In a nutshell, wool has the remarkable ability to keep you cool in the hotter months, as well as keep you warm when it’s cold. 

This makes it the perfect filling for the lightweight duvets we handcraft for use in the Spring, Summer and even into Autumn. In fact, as a natural material, it is so efficient at temperature regulating, that for those of us who sleep in a warmer bedroom, or who suffer from the dreaded night sweats, a lightweight wool duvet will often be the ideal choice year-round. Even better, we’re delighted to have won awards from two national newspapers and Prima magazine included our lightweight wool duvets in their March special feature on the menopause.

Wool is ver

Wool is a remarkable 100% natural product. It’s sustainable, environmentally-friendly and has a number of beneficial properties that make it a wonderful filling for our 100% natural bedding products. Sheep are farmed for the production of wool all over the world - but we never use anything other than top grade, certified 100% British wool.

We do this for a number of reasons. Firstly, British wool has always been considered to be of very high quality. The British wool manufacturing industry dates back to around 1900 BC and when the Romans arrived, they so valued the Britons’ wool weaving skills that in 50 AD they established a wool plant in Winchester. In mediaeval times, many towns across Britain increased their wealth through the wool trade. In fact, by 1660 two-thirds of England’s foreign commerce was based on wool textiles.

Today, sheep farming and wool production in the UK is governed by strict animal welfare regulations. These are set by DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), the governing body that enforces the standards for animal welfare, working together with British Wool who set the standards for wool quality.  Shearing only takes place in Spring and Summer, when the sheep need to have their fleeces shorn. At Devon Duvets, we buy British wool because we are committed to only buying products that we know to come from responsible and ethical sources, as well as being fully traceable and, therefore, from farmers whom we know. 

Buying 100% British wool means a lower carbon footprint. We also clean the wool, without chemicals or bleach, in British mills and it is then brought to our workshops in Devon, where each wool product is individually handcrafted by our highly skilled seamstresses. We do not send our wool products abroad to be manufactured. We want our products to be made right here, on the spot, so that we can guarantee quality and that no other wool, other than 100% British wool, is used.

Last, but by no means least, because of our on-going strict adherence to the high standard of British wool that we buy, who we buy it from and

According to The Sleep Council* we sleep an average of just over 2,372 hours annually. That’s a lot of time spent sleeping. So we obviously want to ensure that not only do we choose the best duvets and pillows to snuggle up in, but also soft and comfortable bed linen that will work with our bedding, to help us to get the best night’s sleep.

There’s a lot of bed linen out there to choose from but what goes right next to your skin is important, which is why cotton, with its smooth texture and natural breathability, is so enduringly popular. There are three main types of cotton, American Upland, Egyptian and Pima, with 90% of cotton bedding made from American Upland, which has short fibres. Both Egyptian and Pima cotton have long, silkier fibres that produce a luxurious, soft fabric that is also stronger and more resilient. Pima cotton was first developed in the Southwestern part of the USA by the selective breeding of Egyptian cottons. As a result, Pima cotton is consid

At Devon Duvets we are committed to making and selling natural products that are responsible and ethical. Products that don’t end up in landfill and will either biodegrade or are recyclable.

This means that we’ve had to work hard on not only ensuring that our products fulfil our criteria but also finding the right sort of packaging to fit the same bill. Our packaging is all recyclable, but it doesn’t have to be discarded; it can also be reused in all sorts of useful ways to help with storage around your home, particularly our inner bags. We’ve all put our heads together to come up with some suggestions and we’re sure that there are lots more that we haven’t thought of – but you will!

Rotating your winter or summer clothes

Our inner bags will fit several jumpers and other winter clothing, or a stack of T-shirts and shorts. Once sealed, you can pop them on the top shelf of a cupboard, under your bed or anywhere else that’s dry, such as inside a sui

It’s that time of year again – when we promise that we’re going to try and live a healthier lifestyle. We read about the latest diet craze (hopefully one that doesn’t involve two meals a day of nothing but boiled cabbage!), browse the internet for our nearest slimming club, promise ourselves that we’ll do more exercise and sort out our ‘work/life’ balance. But how long do these resolutions last?

Interestingly, we often forget that getting a good night’s sleep is a really important part of achieving a healthy lifestyle - something that can be a New Year Resolution that lasts years longer than the latest diet fad. Lack of sleep over a sustained period can have a detrimental impact on all aspects of your life, including work, time with the family and your overall sense of well-being. 

Restless nights can be caused by any number of issues, however, when we’ve spoken to those customers who wanted our advice, one problem that kept coming up was body temperature and how this was impacting on their ability to get a peaceful night. Obviously, menopause can be a contributing factor to this (i.e. burning hot one minute, shiveringly cold the next) but there are all kinds of other issues at play, such as room temperature and the body temperature of your partner. Another problem that our customers say has caused them restless, uncomfortable nights is if they suffer from an allergy to dust mites.

Making sure that you have the right kind of bedding is therefore incredibly important, considering the number of hours we spend tucked up in bed each year. After all, we’re prepared to spend money on what we wear during the day so investing in our sleep time is equally as important. Bedding that’s made of natural materials, and therefore breathable, is going to provide a better sleep experience than something that is synthetic. 

This is where our certified 100% British wool duvets come in. Wool is a wonderful, natural product and we only ever buy ours from British farmers, certified by British Wool to prove that animal welfare is their top priority and their sheep are only sheared during the spring and summer, when they need to be sheared. You can be confident that our wool is 100% British because we are allowed to display the British Wool mark, something that our competitors are unable to do. Once we’ve purchased our wool, it is cleaned in British mills, without using bleach or other chemicals, so it stays as nature intended. 

As our certified 100% British wool duvets are breathable, they are naturally temperature regulating, adapting to your body temperature as you sleep, helping to keep you warm when it’s cold, and vice versa. Our wool duvets are so good at this that even if your partner has a different body temperature to you, your duvet will work for both of you. Your British wool duvet will also resist dust mites and micro bacteria, so you should find this also helps to give you a more restful sleep if you suffer from asthma.

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that our certified 100% British wool duvets are unbelievably snuggly. The wool filling has been especially needled to trap air, giving loft. It’s then handstitched into in the softest 260 thread count, natural cotton by our expert seamstresses at our Devon workshops. This makes your duvet surprisingly lightweight and soft, wrapping you in comfort from head to toe.

Ensuring you get a good night’s sleep, night after night, is the best New Year Resolution you could make!  Check out our full range of duvets, including our 100% British wool duvets here.

January means Veganuary! There are many products available that are suitable for vegans but when it comes to tucking up for the night, vegans have traditionally had to opt for synthetic fibre filled duvets. All well and good but actually synthetic fibres aren’t environmentally friendly, don’t biodegrade and so just end up in landfill.

So, if you’re planning on changing to a Vegan lifestyle, then we’ve got the perfect duvet for you! It’s called Botanic and it’s 100% natural, 100% sustainable, 100% biodegradable and 100% vegan friendly. In fact, it’s the only bedding product of its kind that has been registered by the Vegan Society and also tried and tested by theGood Housekeeping Institute (and featured in the January 2020 edition of Good Housekeeping). 

Our founders, Dick and Pauline built Devon Duvets on the principle that their products will always be natural and sustainable and so they were delighted to discover TENCEL™Lyocell, a natural fibre crea

Cold toes in the night or getting hot and bothered under the covers? Many of us find that our partner has a different body temperature from ours whilst sleeping and that can make for an uncomfortable and restless night’s sleep. No one wants the shock of being woken up by someone else’s icy toes on your side of the bed, however much you love your other half…and it’s equally disruptive to a good night’s sleep if your partner gets hot and keeps throwing off the covers, leaving you out in the cold! So how do you find the best duvet for both of you this winter?

The answer is our certified 100% British wool duvets, individually handcrafted in Devon and encased in gorgeously soft 260 thread count cotton. Surprisingly, wool is not only cloud-like in its comfort but, as it is naturally breathable, it is also a fantastic temperature regulator and so will work with your body temperature to help you get a

Here at Devon Duvets, we make beautiful handcrafted, natural, certified 100% British wool duvets for all seasons. However, right now, winter is here and we’re all looking for that extra snuggle factor to help us get the best possible night’s sleep. 

Everyone is different though; everyone’s body temperature varies so it’s important to ensure that you sleep under a duvet that’s specific to your requirements.  

The question is: how do I choose the best winter duvet?  Our customers often ask us this, so we thought we’d chat about the available options below. Depending on which option you go for, you’ll have a choice of tog equivalents from 4 togs, right up to a massive 20 togs! Bear in mind that wool is a natural temperature regulator so will react to your body temperature far more efficiently than a synthetic duvet.

• You live in a warm house, or you keep your heating on all night during winter – or you are just naturally someone who gets hot a

We’ve been voted as having the best duvets by various national publications and that’s fantastic…but it’s what our customers say that means so much to us.  We put our heart and soul into handcrafting our certified 100% British wool and vegan-friendly Botanic duvets, plus our pillows and mattress toppers, at our Devon workshops. So, it gives us a real buzz when we hear from our satisfied customers that the hard work was so worthwhile.

We promise that we’ll never rest on our laurels but we’ve picked a few reviews to share, from the hundreds that we get - and we actively encourage that all-important feedback! The great thing about being based in Devon is that we’re right here to help with any