You've probably come to Harrison Spinks for the fillings, and I can't blame you. The Pure Response is the entry bed in the Pure collection, the range the Yorkshire maker hand-builds only for Furniture Village: British wool, hemp and flax over pocket springs, 24cm deep, with a flat tufted top and nothing sewn on above it. That flat top is the gap it fills. One rung up, the Harrison Spinks Pure Embrace Pillowtop stacks a pillow top of extra springs over much the same bed, while the Response leaves you lying straight on the wool. On the Firm grade the top gives a little, dry and springy, then the springs meet your hips and keep them level with your shoulders.
It suits anyone who lies face up or face down and wants a firm bed, from about average weight upwards, and for them it's a good one. Side sleepers shouldn't buy it in Firm, because your shoulder gets almost no give and you'll wake up feeling it. Order the Medium instead, which Furniture Village sells under the same name. My objection is the price, and it's mine to own: this is a lot of money for the first rung of a range.
The Firm keeps a back sleeper level and stops a front sleeper sagging
Firm works for those two positions for a plain reason. Wool, hemp and flax give quickly and stop early, so your hips sink a short way and then sit on the springs instead of dropping below your shoulders. On your back, the small of your back stays supported and turning over takes no effort, since there's no hollow to climb out of. On your front, the bed keeps your middle from bowing down, and that bowing is what leaves a front sleeper's lower back aching on a softer mattress.
I'd talk you out of front sleeping if I could, because it twists your neck on any bed. If you can't shake it, a firm mattress and a thin pillow are the pair to have, and this is a firm mattress. What I wouldn't do is buy it because somebody told you firm is good for backs. Firm isn't a cure for a bad back, and medium-firm is where I'd start almost anyone. Buy it because that's how you sleep, and because you like lying on a bed instead of in it.
Weight comes first in my book, then position. Under about nine stone, try the Medium even on your back, because the Firm won't give much under a lighter body and it'll feel like a board. Over about eighteen stone, ask Furniture Village for the spring wire gauge before you order, since a heavy body leans on the springs far more than on the fillings.
3,250 springs on the label, and about 750 of them carry you
The headline figure is 3,250 springs in a king. Of those, 2,500 are micro springs in a layer of their own, which leaves about 750 full-height Cortec Quad pocket springs doing the supporting underneath. Cortec is Harrison Spinks' own glue-free pocket spring system, and I respect it as a core. Micro springs I don't count as support at all. They add a little give near the surface, and I'd always rather the money went on natural fillings, which on this bed it mostly has.
My own yardstick says even a double with a thousand pocket springs is on the light side, so 750 full-height springs across a king is a low count. They're pocket springs all the same, each wrapped and working alone, which keeps a restless partner's turns on their own half. On a firm grade under an average-weight back sleeper, that unit does its job, which is why the count bothers me less here than it would on a soft bed.
The border gets two rows of hand side-stitching, and that's the whole of the edge story on this bed. That matters most to couples, who use every inch of a double, so if the bedroom will take a king, buy the king.
The fillings are all natural, and the hemp and flax are grown on the maker's farm
Under the cover sit three fibres. The wool is British and sold as fully traceable, and the hemp and flax come from Harrison Spinks' own farm in Yorkshire. All three breathe and let damp out, so the surface stays dry under you through the night. If you run warm, natural fibres over springs is the build I'd point you at before anything with foam on top. The cover is a wool and viscose blend woven in-house, and the wool handles the fire rules without a chemical treatment. That's a nice touch, though every mattress on sale in the UK meets those rules one way or another.
The Response also takes an electric blanket, which the maker allows on all its mattresses. Mine's on a timer: it comes on ahead of bedtime and goes off once I'm in, so the bed is warm while the room stays cool.
The top is hand-tufted, so you'll see neat dimples across it where tufts are pulled through to keep the layers in place. Hand or machine, that's a job tufts do on any well-made bed, and I judge the result, not who did the stitching. Natural fillings bed down into your shape over the first few months, so a shallow impression where you sleep is normal and nothing to ring the shop about.
It's one-sided, and that's the part of the build I'd change
The Response is a no-turn mattress with one sleeping face. I mark a bed down for that, because to my mind a mattress with two faces outlasts one with a single face. In the Pure collection the turnable beds only start further up the range, and they're deeper builds. Here you swing it round head to foot instead, most often in its first months, and never flip it.
Dual tension is on offer from king size up, one grade on each half, which is the answer for a back sleeper sharing with a side sleeper. Two people on one grade that suits only one of them is a compromise I'd always avoid when the split is on offer.
Is a Harrison Spinks worth the money? For a back or front sleeper who wants firm, the Response is
I respect what Harrison Spinks puts inside a mattress, and the Response shows it: natural fibres right through the fillings and a properly made pocket unit under them. My problem is what it costs. For the first rung of a range it asks a lot, and I find Furniture Village a pricey place to shop. So my answer is yes, for a back or front sleeper who wants firm natural fillings and has the budget. The price moves through the year, so wait for one of the shop's sales if your old mattress can hold out, and judge the sale price on its own.
Before you pay, read Furniture Village's change-of-mind terms. There's a collection fee if you send a mattress back, and the shop won't take back one that's been slept on without a protector, so fit a protector before you sleep on it. Every Response is made to order in Yorkshire, so leave yourself a few weeks before you need it.
What to buy instead
If you want a firm, flat bed you can turn over, buy the Hypnos Bespoke Quartz at the same shop. It's Firm too, it carries 1,200 Hypnos pocket springs in a king against roughly 750 full-height ones here, and it has two faces to sleep on, so it shares its wear. To my mind Hypnos builds well and prices fairly. You give up some of the natural fill for that, because the Quartz mixes its wool with polycotton, and that's the reason I'd still put a hot back sleeper on the Response.
Side sleepers should stay with this bed and order the Medium. A heavy back sleeper who wants a handmade bed for less can drop to the Hypnos Bespoke Amber, which is extra firm only and one-sided like the Response, built for a heavy body lying on its back and not much else.
