Wool is what most people picture when they go looking for a traditional mattress: tufted, turnable, made in Britain and without a scrap of foam in it. If that's what brought you here and the budget is small, the Pardoe is the bed at Dreams built for you. Dreams makes it itself, in the West Midlands, under its Dreams Workshop name: one layer of open coil springs with British wool and polyester packed on both sides of it. The wool, on two usable faces, puts it above the plainer open coils in the range. It's a springy, supportive surface with a soft layer of wool on top, and our tester came away liking it.
Our tester tried it in a Dreams store in March 2025, when Dreams still called it the Russon. The published build is the same under the new name: wool, polyester and open springs in the same order, the same medium-firm grade, the same 21cm depth and the same two usable faces. Our tester weighs 68kg and sleeps on their back, and lying that way in the shop they found the medium-firm feel spot on.
It supported their back well without feeling too hard, gave a little where they needed it, and spread their weight evenly across the surface. That's a good report for any spring bed at this end of the shop. The ticket went up when the name changed, though the published layers haven't changed to account for it.
Buy it for a spare room or a first flat, or whenever you need a decent bed for not much money and would rather sleep on wool than foam. Back sleepers who weigh about what our tester does get the most from it, and medium-firm is a grade most guests can sleep on, which is what a spare room needs. To my mind it's a better open coil than most, because the wool and the second face are the two things a basic spring unit needs most. It's still an open coil, though, and if you can find the money for pocket springs, that's where I'd send you.
Skip it if you share the bed with someone who turns over all night, and skip it as a side sleeper who wants the shoulder to sink in, because one layer of wool and polyester over a medium-firm spring unit won't let it go far.
British wool on both faces does the softening
Start at the top and work down. Under the damask cover sits a layer of British wool, then polyester, then an insulating pad that smooths the surface over the wire, and then the springs. Below them the whole stack repeats in mirror image, which is why either face can go up. The wool is the part that changes how it feels: it takes the harshness off the springs and lets air move through, and Dreams finishes it with tufts so the fillings stay put.
It isn't a natural mattress, and the owner who called it "not entirely natural" read the build correctly. Polyester shares each face with the wool, and the cover is polyester too. For me, wool is still the filling I want nearest my skin, because it sleeps cooler than foam and lasts. One owner said they "didn't get overly warm at night as it's foam free", which is wool and springs doing what they do.
The wired springs underneath are where I part company with it
My money goes on pocket springs, every time. In an open coil each spring is wired to the ones beside it, so a push on one side travels across the whole unit, and if your partner rolls over at three in the morning, you'll know about it. A wired unit doesn't shape itself round your shoulder or hip, so the wool and polyester on top do all of that work. Dreams builds the Pardoe without edge support as well.
What the Pardoe does well is make the most of that unit. Two faces mean the wear is shared between them when you turn it, and the wool keeps a soft layer between you and the wire. That's the best case for open coil I can make, and on a spare-room budget it's a fair one.
People who bought it under its old name like it more than I do
The owners are warm about it, and they deserve the credit. One summed it up as "Not soft not firm, just right", and another wrote that it "has helped my back issues". Others call it a "Decent hard mattress" or "firm not soggy but with a good spring", so expect the firm side of medium-firm. One owner laid it on the floor, Japanese style, and has slept comfortably ever since, which is a braver use of a spring mattress than I'd make.
Read them knowing who wrote them. One bought it for a son, another for a daughter's first double, another for a guest bedroom, and the sale gets a mention. A guest bed gets a few nights a month and a child weighs very little, so neither asks much of a wired spring unit, and to my mind that's why they're happy. One owner could feel the springs and said they would add a topper, which is the open coil complaint I'd expect. I'd still put a child's every-night bed on pocket springs, however pleased these parents are.
Use both sides, and give it a flat base or slats
A double-sided mattress only lasts longer if both sides get used, so turn yours when Dreams asks you to and don't let one face do all the work. Owners say it's light enough to manage, and one slightly built owner with a chronic illness found that made it "so much easier for me" to turn. At 21cm (about eight inches) it takes any ordinary fitted sheet. It isn't compatible with Dreams' Sleepmotion adjustable beds, so give it a flat base or slats.
What to buy instead
Stay at Dreams and stretch to pocket springs if you can. The Dream Team Maidstone 1000 keeps what I like here: it turns over, it's tufted and there's no foam in it, with pocket springs where the open coil sits. It's a firmer bed, so it suits back and front sleepers best, and it's at its best value in a sale.
If it's the wool you came for, the Dream Team Frome 4200 Pocket Wool puts wool and micro springs on both faces over a main pocket spring unit. It's a much bigger spend and a firm one, but it's the full version of the turnable wool bed the Pardoe sketches. Side sleepers who want more give at the shoulder should look at the Dream Team Tadley 800 instead, with memory foam over pocket springs: it runs warmer than wool, and it's kinder to a side sleeper's shoulder than the Pardoe.
