Despite that, if you want to make the best possible purchase it’s best not just to plunge in with your credit card (although if you want to do that here it’s just fine with us – check out our great ranges!) There’s a lot of things you might want to consider, and we respectfully present our top tips for making the right choice

1. Measure your bed

You can probably confidently say if your bed is a double bed (congratulations!) or a single bed (don’t worry – your time will come). You’ve probably also heard terms like ‘king size’ or ‘twin’ beds. However, these are purely notional terms. There is no set industry standard for what constitutes such a thing. So – if you’re buying bedding your starting point should really be to get an accurate measurement. That bargain sheet will be less of a bargain if you can’t tuck it under your mattress and find yourself falling out of bed as a result.

Measure not just the width and length of your mattress – but also it’s thickness. If you’re buying bottom sheets it will need to fully wrap around this, and if you’re buying a duvet or top sheet you’ll probably want to hide your mattress/bare legs.

2. Thread Counts

On your sheets you will probably find a thing called a ‘thread count’. Unsurprisingly, this is a count of the, er, threads in the bedding (we never said this was rocket science). It refers to number of threads per square inch in both directions of the weave. The higher the thread count the softer and more luxurious the bedding. This can come at a price however. The number of threads that will fit into a square inch is slightly limited so very high thread counts are attained by using thinner threads. This means that they might not wear as well and need replacing more frequently than something with a lower count. As a rough guide, something over 250 is considered to be a good mixture of wear and softness, and anything under 175 is a little on the coarse side.

3. Material differences

You’re going to spend a lot of time in your bed (up to a third of your life!) so ideally choose the best material you can get for your money. Cotton is the most common option for sheets and it is a nice, relatively luxurious thing to sleep on. It does however crease easily so if you’re a sensitive sleeper or fussy about appearance you might want to consider a non-wrinkling blend. Flannelette is thicker and cosier than cotton so if cold nights are bothersome you might want to invest in some flannelette sheets to keep you toasty and warm. Luxury materials like satin and silk come at a premium, but you will know where the extra money went!

For the practically minded, a close look at the washing advice for each of the different materials is recommended. Silks, for example, must often be dry cleaned so consider whether you can afford this or whether you even want the hassle of dropping them off and picking them up. On the other hand, materials like cotton can wrinkle so there’s a trade-off in comfort and visual appeal.

4. Buy More Sheets Than You Need

We would say that, wouldn’t we? Actually, vested interests aside, it is always wise to keep a few spare sets knocking around. Spillages are all too common and if you’ve got kids bouncing around on your bed a stray robot sword could pierce the bedding at any time. Also remember that if you’re washing your bedding – particularly in winter when it is too cold and wet to dry

One of the things to realise about pillows is that they naturally have a much short lifespan than a duvet. As well as being used as impromptu weapons by children, pillows must bear the weight of our heads. That also means they collect swathes of dead skin from your scalp, as well as oils, sweat and a miniature flotilla of tiny mites that feed on all that tasty head effluvia.

All this wear and tear leads to the loss of ‘bounce’. If you try to fluff it up and it stays flat and shapeless then it’s time to replace - and in general it’s something you should find yourself doing every couple of years.

Pillows range in softness from extremely fluffy and cosy to really quite hard, and there isn’t any real guide to which one is best other than your own personal preference. In general terms, if it is too flat then it can place a strain on your neck as your head slumps down from your shoulders. On the other hand, a pillow that is too high can cause back ache. If you have any existing medical conditions (particularly with your  back or neck) your doctor might make recommendations on the basis of orthopaedics.

Down

Firstly, you should know that down is actually just a type of feather. Most birds begin their life covered in down rather than adult feathers, and it is down that gives them their irresistable fluffy appeal. Down feathers are shaped rather like one of the seeds you might have blown from a dandelion when you were a kid. They are very small, have roughly a spherical shape and have many individual fibres. This gives them amazing insulating properties - trapping heat very effectively. For young ducks or geese this is ideal for keeping them warm against the cold, although the adults retain some down underneath their main feathers in certain parts such as the breast. 

This also makes down the more expensive and luxurious of the two kinds of feather. This is partly because of its greater scarcity. The average duck has tens of thousands of feathers, but only a small fraction of them are down. Because of its greater insulating properties it is also more sought after. So if you’re interested in buying the very best in duvets, quilts or pillows pure down-filled options are the finest available.

Feathers

By contrast, regular feathers are coarser, tougher and not as insulating as down. Evolved to fit different purposes such as keeping the duck/goose waterproof when diving, they consist of densely bunched barbs (the individual fibres that are attached the main ‘vane’ of the feather) which are more aerodynamic and water repellent than down. Naturally, these are less comfortable, less warming and are easier to flatten than down and are generally considered to be an inferior product (although still very comfortable in their own right.)

Duck Feather/Down Mixes

The most common feather-based products on the market use a mixture of down and feather. This keeps the price more amenable for sensitive wallets but retains an element of the softness and luxury exemplified by down. Whilst perhaps not as long-lasting as pure down, such products are generally great for home use and still retain the edge in luxury over synthetic fillings such as hollow-fibres.

Technically, a tog rating is a measurement of thermal resistance or conductivity. The more resistant an item is to transferring heat the higher its tog value. So duvets with a lower tog rating are more suitable to summer use, when they will allow body heat to disappate and keep you cooler, whereas high-tog quilts will help to trap heat - making them cosy and toasty during freezing winter evenings.

The tog itself was developed by the Shirley Institute (formerly the British Cotton Industry Research Association) as a more readily understandable unit than the technical industry term “m2K/W”. If you’re interested, this is defined thusly:

“the thermal resistance in togs is equal to ten times the temperature difference (in °C) between the two surfaces of a material, when the flow of heat is equal to one watt per square metre.”

The name is thought to be related to Macunian slang for clothing (‘togs’) and indeed is used in a wide range of textiles, not just duvets or quilts. As unlikely as it sounds, the device used to measure the tog rating of an item is called a ‘togmeter’ and these are used to carry out the ‘tog test’ to determine how an item should be categorised.

If you’re wondering what tog rating is most suitable for what purpose or time of year, the rough guidelines are:

• 4.5 tog
  Light covers, suitable for warm summers
• 9 - 10.5 tog
  Warmer duvets for cooler autumn conditions
• 12 – 13.5 tog
  Super-warm duvets ideal for the chilliest of winters