This real wool duvet from Devon saved my sleep on muggy autumn nights and will keep me cosy all winter

I’m struggling to dress myself for this weird, muggy autumn. It can feel really chilly when I step out of the house, but by the time I’m crammed on to the Tube, I’ve cast off my jacket and am sweating into the next layer.

And the problem has extended itself to my sleep, too. The evenings feel cold, but I’ll often wake up overheating in the wee hours – yet it’s too chilly to stick a leg out of the duvet for more than a few minutes. All I want is to sleep through the night, but this confusing weather is hanging around like a sweaty, uninvited guest.

As luck would have it, I was recently tipped off about a type of bedding that could solve all my problems: duvets filled with real sheep’s wool. Could a wool duvet regulate my temperature during a greasy, sticky autumn – and keep me cosy through winter, too? I decided it was worth a shot.

The Devon Duvets Medium Weight British Wool Duvet in a nutshell

The reason I wanted to try a wool duvet is because people say they can magically keep you cool in hot weather and warm in cold weather. It makes sense that nature has already figured out the perfect Goldilocks solution. Feather and synthetic duvets, on the other hand, may be good at trapping heat, but they can feel really stuffy if that heat or moisture builds up.

I used to sleep under a thick feather duvet year-round (yes, it got kicked off every summer), but since I started sharing a bed with my warm-blooded partner, we switched to a thinner one with a synthetic filling. If I’m getting chilly, I’ll wear thicker PJs or add a blanket on my side. I was hoping that a wool duvet would keep us both at the right temperature without me having to pile on layers.

I chose one from Devon Duvets, a lovely small business that makes every duvet by hand from traceable British sheep’s wool, encased in 260 thread count cotton. I went for the medium weight duvet – equivalent to 8-14 togs – which should see us through autumn, winter and most of spring. Here’s how we got on.

My wool duvet review

The duvet arrived promptly from Devon and came wrapped in a cotton bag, with a little pouch of lavender as a free gift – a very sweet touch. When I unwrapped the duvet, I was met with the lovely smell of lanolin: the natural waxy substance in proper wool that hasn’t been chemically stripped. It was sheepy and comforting.

It felt surprisingly similar to a feather duvet. I had expected it to be sort of spongey and heavy – instead, it had a similar weight to our thin, synthetic option while being much more voluminous, with a fluffy, generous loft. Heaven.

That night, we popped a cover on and tucked ourselves in. In the morning, the first thing my partner said to me was a groggy ‘This duvet is so nice... it’s like being in a cloud’. He was very reluctant to leave the cloud, taking longer than usual to roll out of bed, whereas I had a pep in my step after an excellent night’s sleep – for once, it wasn’t broken by night sweats. The wool was a success.

I had been somewhat concerned that my partner and I are a bit allergic to wool – he gets an itchy nose from a knitted wool blanket, and coarse, woollen garments tend to irritate my skin. But thanks to the duvet’s 100% cotton casing (plus the duvet cover, of course), neither of us had any reaction at all.

Several more sleeps in, and we’re complete converts. The autumn nighttime temperature has varied a lot, from a balmy 14°C to a nippy 6°C – but we’ve both been sleeping so well without getting too hot or cold. The only downside is having to extract ourselves from the cosy cocoon, especially on chilly mornings.

The other reasons I choose wool

Wool appealed to me for more than its temperature-regulating qualities. It’s a natural, renewable fibre and Devon Duvets uses wool traceable to British farms, where sheep are shorn as part of their regular care. Unlike many synthetic fillings, wool is biodegradable at the end of its life.

The company makes its duvets by hand in Devon, supporting local craftspeople and skills – a great alternative to bedding made far from home. And finally, wool is resistant to dust mites, because its breathable nature deprives the mites of the humidity they need to survive. Great news if you have allergies.

Final verdict

We haven’t tested this specific duvet in our lab yet, so this isn’t a GHI Approved verdict. But based on my own experience, the Devon Duvets Medium Weight British Wool Duvet has been a true sleep-saver: it feels light and cloud-like, yet has kept my partner and I so comfortable through both chilly and unseasonably warm nights.

In fact, I’m so impressed that I’m considering getting one of Devon Duvets’ wool mattress toppers, to help regulate my temperature from below, too. I’m sure it will stay much fresher than the hot memory foam I sleep on top of now. If you, too, tend to get too hot or cold under your current duvet, I can’t recommend wool enough – but, be warned, getting out of bed is a lot harder.

More temperature-regulating wool bedding

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