If you've read the title of this review, you'll see that I've given the game away. The Superb Mattress by Naturalmat more than lives up to its names. It's natural, medium-firm, and UK-made, offering all the finest luxury touches and more.
On my hunt for the best mattresses on the market, I've been sleeping on every kind of surface you could think of in all the different sleeping positions. I've researched everything you need to know to sleep better and this mattress seems like a good fit. The Suberb Mattress offers an eco-conscious luxury approach and I think I'm quite taken with it. Why? You ask. I'll tell you.
Browsing through endless five star reviews, it'll become quickly clear that this isn't just my choice of base for my bed. It's most people's as well as a few handfuls of the world's finest hotels. So, why are we all so smitten? Is it the fact that they are delivered from the factory directly to your bed? Or is it that they are handmade in Devon and have been since 1999? Maybe it is that they are hypoallergenic and chemical free? How about the fact that they are pocket sprung? Well. I suppose it’s a little bit of everything. So strap in, or tuck in if you’re in bed on a mattress in need of replacement whilst reading this.
Specifications
Opening note
If you ever wanted to return a mattress the likelihood is that it won’t be the colour, or the size (because hopefully you measured before such a big purchase!). It’s going to be because it’s uncomfortable. Regardless of the reason, straight off that bat you have a 45-day sleep promise. This is more than enough time to make your mind up, plus there are no crafty t&cs to catch you out. Naturalmat really does want to make sure you’re happy with your purchase. They charge £75 to pick up the mattress that wasn’t quite right and deliver the new one to replace it at the same time. If you buy The Superb Mattress at the current price of £1,360, but sign up to the newsletter to get 5% off (£68), and then decide you want to swap, you really only pay £7. Girl maths.
Now I don’t know where Naturalmat found their delivery team, but when I move house I want them. There’s none of this curb-side nonsense, or even stopping as far as your door, which would be reasonable. They will literally take it to the room (even bed) of your choice at no extra cost. In my case the third floor of a townhouse. Zero complaints from them. You can add delivery notes on ordering so they come prepared, probably with pre-workout drinks. Another customer reported that the team couldn’t get their van down the lane to the customer’s house, so they carried it half a mile. Consider my case rested.
All their products arrive in 100% recyclable packaging with cardboard feet on all corners. The mattresses are, of course, in pristine condition without being over packaged and wasteful.
Naturalmat will take away your old mattress if you ask them to, but they get charged by the recycling centre to drop it off as they are a business. You can do it for free, so it’s your call. It’s £60 and maybe saves you strapping your kingsize to the roof of a Fiat 500.
Comfort levels
When you are faced with personalising your choice for your new mattress you have three options with The Superb Mattress: soft, medium or firm. You might find it helpful to know that around 70% of people opt for a medium, so chances are you’re in that category. If, however, you are much lighter than your average person you may prefer a soft mattress. Equally heavier people may go for the firmer option, again to avoid oversinking on the medium.
I am 75 kg and Naturalmat’s medium firmness is perfect for me as a side sleeper. There is a nice amount of cushioning with an initial comforting sink, but an underlying firmness that stops the mattress from becoming like quicksand (or memory foam).
I read that some customers who went for the firm option say it is too firm. I also read that other people who went for the medium wished they had gone for the firm, so it swings in roundabouts. With the 45 day promise you can make the swap in your sleep.
One big reason for people generally opting for a medium firmness is because it suits couples as a middle ground. Relationships are all about compromise after all. Well compromise no more with Naturalmat’s Zip and Link system. This means you could have one side of your bed soft and the other side hard. I was particularly interested in this. Whenever I have slept on a “double bed” made up of two single beds, I end up falling down the crack in the middle, less forty winks and more twenty. But, as above, The Superb Mattress is a zip system and quite the game changer. Sometimes these zips are next to impossible to do up, but not here, zipping my two sides together was effortless. If you're still worried you could buy a mattress topper (of sorts) from Naturalmat making the link completely invisible. Even the princess from The Princess and the Pea wouldn’t feel it with just the zip though, so trust the product.
Support and firmness
The topic of the dual sides brings me nicely onto support. Have you ever been on a mattress where the edge just seems to melt away when you move to it? I think this must be a real root cause of people falling out of bed. The pocket springs in The Superb Mattress mean there is edge to edge support whether you’re on the far side of the mattress so you can scroll on your phone whilst it’s just in reach of the nearest plug socket, or right in the middle where the two join making the most of having the bed to yourself for the night, it won’t let you down.
The majority of people are side sleepers. If this is you then you’ll know that a firm mattress causes a week of hip and shoulder pain. This is because you put more pressure on certain areas of your body than others. A soft or medium mattress avoids that pressure build up and maintains proper spine alignment. I, along with many others, have found that I have slept longer, better and without pain after switching to The Superb Mattress.
I am a big fan of the pocket springs in this mattress over natural fibre mattresses. Each pocket spring is like a little person holding you up, they work independently nestled side by side inside adjusting to the pressure applied to them. They are actually inserted by hand at Naturalmat so you can be sure they are there. Natural fibre mattresses are softer. They provide support but it is more like lying on a pile of insulation, they stop compressing when the fibre becomes too dense, so the support isn’t there from the start and likely to deteriorate much quicker than metal springs.
Scent
If your mattress hunt has just begun you probably weren’t expecting to see smell on this list. Well “off-gassing”, as they call it, is a real thing. I don’t like the term, so I am going to stick with scent.
The chemical process involved in making memory foam mattresses doesn’t bear thinking about. But let's think about it, polyurethane, polyether polyols, blowing agents, urethane, isocyanates. Nothing on this list really makes you think “natural” or “good for inhaling”. That is what you are doing though, spending the night pressed right against it, so it’s inevitable. The chemically smells can really damage the air quality of your room - I’ve actually seen my air purifier in the red zone when I was testing memory foam toppers. Word to the wise, stick to natural when it comes to the materials.
This is exactly what Naturalmat has done. Natural latex from the sap of the Hevea rubber tree as an alternative to synthetic foams, organic wool from local farms. Beyond this, in the UK there are very strict fire safety standards that mattresses must pass before they can be sold to the public. The majority achieve this protection level through using chemical fire retardants. Naturalmat does this without any chemicals whatsoever. They are also the only mattress manufacturer to add a hypoallergenic finishing process to the covers to prevent dust mites and bed bugs.
The only thing you’re smelling when you unpack The Superb Mattress, as one customer puts it, is “sheep”. This subtle farm-esque smell is another certification of naturalness, but in no way is noticeable when lying down or drifting off. So no complaints from me on the smell test.
Temperature regulation
I don’t have too much to add here beyond what I’ve already covered in different sections. Whilst the materials that make up the mattress sound like they’ll be hot, wool and natural latex are actually some of the best fibres to sleep on for a cooling effect.
In my opinion, aside from deep memory foam mattresses, which I would avoid anyway, your duvet and room temperature have more to answer for here. I get hot when I sleep, probably more so than most people. But with the medium firmness I found no problems. As a side note I am testing in early October, it is still around 10 - 20 degrees. Maybe I would be suffering more if it was summer.
The truth is, you should pick the mattress based on the comfort and support, if you find you are sleeping hot there are alternative solutions. Don’t pick a firm mattress that you find uncomfortable just so you are cool. That is why fans exist.
Guarentee and durability
The Superb Mattress comes with a 10 year guarantee. This covers defective workmanship and materials, sewing faults and fabric flaws, faulty handles, air vents and tufts. Faulty handle cover is a nice thing to have as part of that. Whenever I move a mattress I always wonder how long they’ll last.
The mattresses as a whole will survive 10 years and beyond if properly cared for. And let’s be honest, a mattress isn’t exactly a house plant that dies whether you give it water or not. They’re pretty low maintenance. Flip ‘em every 3 months and that’s it. After the 10 year mark it is recommended by Sleep Foundation that you change them anyway.
In my opinion these feel like they’re built to last. You know as soon as you hold something whether it’s good quality or not. Naturalmat is not in the business of producing bulk and flimsy tat.
Environmental credentials
Let’s start with a scary fact. Over 5 million mattresses end up in landfill every year. In the UK alone. This is fuelled by low quality products and 100 day sleep guarantees. Naturalmat are fighting fiercely to do what they can for the environment and I’m impressed.
Every mattress they sell can be broken down into its individual component materials, each of which can be either composted, reused or recycled rather than being thrown away. At the end of 10 years they guarantee that nothing will go to landfill. You could have The Superb Mattress refurbished in their Devon based workshop, recycled through their partners, or donated - Naturalmat works with Mattilda, a company based in Liverpool with the world's first mattress washing machine.
All the packaging is 100% compostable and/or recyclable using biodegradable corn starch wrapping for linen and reusable cotton drawstring bags printed with water-based ink for duvets and pillows. They also use their own reusable mattress bags to deliver the adult mattresses and beds. This saves thousands of kilos of single-use plastic each year.
Value
As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Naturalmat is well priced for a premium mattress. You could spend less with John Lewis or M&S, but you definitely would not get such a comprehensive product from a company who are absolute pros. Equally you could spend more and get even more pocket springs. The truth is, after a certain point these stop making a difference.
What you have with Naturalmat is a company that cares. They have a recipe for great mattresses without compromise on any part of the process from ordering and delivery to recycling and renewing. They aren’t trying to rip anyone off and are worth every penny you pay. You will be able to sleep easy, knowing you would have struggled to make a better choice.
The Superb Mattress is beautiful inside and out.
Sweet dreams.
How we test
Why can I speak objectively about mattresses? You may be wondering. Well, as I write, I have 4 of them in my house that I am testing. This doesn’t include all the others I have tested before, and all that are to come next. When you start testing mattresses you realise that the words “I slept like a log” are not the result of chance, the calming podcast you listened to, or the cheese board you didn’t eat, but the bed you lay on.
Given that mattresses are neither seen nor heard (usually), you’ve probably never really broken down what separates a good mattress from a great mattress. Well I’m here to tell you the criteria and set you off on your journey as a newly qualified siesta scientist.
The top two most important factors I consider are comfort & support. These are closely followed by the type of mattress and the smell (yes you read correctly). Then we have delivery, temperature regulation, warranty/durability, earth friendliness and value. These last five don’t impact your sleep unless you really overpay and lie awake at night worrying. I also place lower significance on temperature regulation because in my opinion a duvet and your boiler system have a bigger part to play here. Of course a deep memory foam is going to be warmer than a firm pocket sprung, but you get my point.
