It seems Princess Eugenie has chosen the Little Green Sheep Natural Knitted Moses Basket for her new arrival, baby Ernest, and we’ve found it on sale for under £100.
Once I’d gotten over the fact that Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank managed to keep their new baby news under wraps for an entire week, my eye was drawn to baby Ernest’s Moses basket, which you can see in the snap that Eugenie shared on Instagram in her birth announcement.
I was pretty convinced, the moment I spotted that unmistakable knitted liner, that baby Ernest lay sleeping soundly in none other than the Natural Knitted Moses Basket from The Little Green Sheep. In our guide to the best Moses baskets we chose it as our best budget buy. Made from natural woven palm leaf, it normally retails for £119.95 at The Little Green Sheep but comes with both a chemical-free mattress (worth £59) and that cosy organic knitted liner included - and I've found it on offer at The Hut for less than £100.
(Let me explain. I possess geek-level knowledge of baby gear and can pretty much identify the make and model of any pram at 20 paces. That’s what comes from being a mum to three kids and having spent the best part of 20 years as a parenting journalist writing about baby and nursery products. Hence finding myself nodding and muttering 'Good choice...' to myself when I spotted Princess Eugenie's birth announcement and that Moses basket.)
For our buying guide, we asked journalist, author and mum Kate Wills to review the Little Green Sheep Moses Basket with her son, who was 10 weeks old at the time. "It arrived without too much packaging, and looks really good in our bedroom," she told us. "The basket itself is well-designed and very light, so it's really easy to move around the house. The wooden stand also folds away easily and doesn't take up much space."
We found the quality of this Moses basket impressive, particularly given that it costs considerably less than other 'designer' Moses baskets loved by famous mums, and the organic knitted liner adds real value for money. "It's very chic and looks quite Scandinavian in design," added Kate. "But it's also very practical – the liner helped stop my baby from scratching her hands against the rough interior, which happens with our own Moses basket. That makes this one feel warm and cosy."
On the downside, the stand is an extra expense but our tester still thinks this is a good budget buy given the quality of the mattress it comes with. And while this basket felt a little on the small side for her 9lbs baby, it should leave baby Ernest, who weighed 7.1lbs at birth, plenty of room to stretch out.
I’m not surprised Eugenie chose it but I am surprised that she went for such a ‘normal’ choice. No fancy pants perspex cots for this little Royal. So, should you fancy popping your own little prince or princess in a Moses basket fit for Royalty, that’s the one to choose.
If you're kitting out the nursery for a new arrival, you might also like our guides to the best prams and the best pushchairs.
