Best Winter Investment – My Granny Goose Duvet

In March we’ll be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary.  It’s a pretty big acheivement that I’m really looking forward to, because 10 years is a heck of a long time.  In fact if you count the time we dated (another 3 and a bit years), I have almost lived more of my life with Seth than I have without him.  (Benefits of meeting your person at 16 I guess).

Of course things have changed as we’ve been together, but the most noticable of all is what we wear to bed.

So back when we were just married I’d jump into bed with some lacy lingerie (if anything at all) and we’d, uh, cuddle all night to keep warm.  Then as the years passed it slowly progressed to his T-Shirts, then my old stained T-Shirts and shorts, then my old ratty hoody and a pair of tracksuit pants.  Then one day I got into bed after Seth was already snoring and he woke up with a start, thinking that a homeless person had crawled into bed with him.  Some context – I might have started wearing a blanket wrapped around my body and wore it into bed too.

Guys, I know what you’re thinking and you’re right – “Sexy” IS my middle name.  I mean just imagine a soft, fleece covered creature crawling into bed with you…  Bow-chicka-wow-wow.

Just ask my husband who groaned when I progressed from my aforementioned pajama disaster to adding a onesie into the mix.  Yup, a light blue, dog covered onesie wrapped in a homeless mans grey blanket is the perfect contraception, uh I mean night time attire.

But seriously, besides the fact that we already have three kids and I do not want that to change in the near future, going to bed dressed as an eskimo was not done because I didn’t want to look attractive for my husband, it’s because if I didn’t, I’d spend the night shivering.  Even with my two t-shirts, onesie, socks, hood over my ears and wrapped in my grey fleece blanket, I still had a duvet and ANOTHER blanket on top.  And even with all of that, I’ve often thought that I’d lost a toe to frostbite in the middle of the night.  Moral of the story, when I get cold I do it right by basically FREEZING to death.

Did I mention that the duvet we had was just a poly-something el-cheapo that we bought when we had kids?  We figured that the kids would ruin it (goodness knows how they tend to puke, poo and wee on everything) and we were not wrong – just this weekend Knox jumped onto Seth while he was drinking his coffee and well, the duvet took the brunt of it.  Plus, it’s been so well worn that the stitching has come loose on one side, making all the stuffing condense into a ball at my head.  Not very warm or comfortable for that matter.

It was time to take action and so we invested in a down duvet from Granny Goose.

Why a down duvet?  Well after a bit of research I realised that it’s a breathable insulator, so it keeps me warm without making me sweat, unlike our old synthetic one which would be warm but make Seth sweat (I never had this problem because I was always cold, but Seth did – he’s the hot one).  So we got a king sized down duvet from Granny Goose.

(Even though our bed is a queen size, we use king sized bedding – we can’t be the only couple that fights over the blankets can we?)

We’ve been using our down duvet for the last couple of nights and the difference is astounding.  I can go to bed with just a long sleeve top on and even though I’m freezing when I get into bed, it’s only minutes before the duvet has warmed me up.  I can actually feel how much warmer the duvet is than the bed underneath me.  It’s such a difference that my next investment is going to be the feather bed, so I’ll be warmed bottom and top!

Now buying a real down duvet is an investment and like any good investor, you should look after it properly, so I asked Mariel from Granny Goose how to make the most of our new duvet.  And this is what she had to say:

• Keep it natural – continue the trend of pure, natural raw materials so that your down duvet insulates and breathes, keeping you at optimum body temperatures for peaceful sleep times.
• Wear pure cotton pyjamas, anything with polyester or nylon will lessen the breathability of your down duvet.
• Stick to pure cotton bedding, keep it natural fibres only.
• Shake your duvet regularly to help the fibres of down trap air, this maintains the loft and puffiness of your duvet, preventing the down from matting and losing its insulating capacity.
• If you are on a slotted bed base, what you may not know is that air passes through your mattress and can be uncomfortable in winter especially, adding a featherbed to the top of your mattress will prevent any through-drafts.
• Washing your duvet once a year will also help the down maintain its air trapping capabilities. If washing your duvet at home is not an option, we provide a washing service (Granny Goose duvets and pillows only).

Prevent damage to your down products by following a care regime:

• Change your bed linen once a week to prevent discolouraton.
• Avoid dry cleaning your duvet as this damages the down proof fabric that all our products are encased in. Downproof fabric is unique in that it prevents down and feathers from pushing through your duvet.
• Try and avoid exposing your duvet to sunlight or heat as this can make the down and feathers sweat and your duvet or pillow will need to be rewashed.
• If you are washing your duvet at home here are some more tips.

I hope that these cool tips will help you make the most of your down duvet.

Do you have the same problems that I do with dealing with the cold during Winter?  What’s helped keep you warm?

This is technically a sponsored post, but because I was already wanting to upgrade our bedding when Granny Goose approached me to work with them, it was a no brainer.