Plain is what the Castleton is for. There's no foam pad and nothing sewn on top, just a quilted aloe cover over breathable polyester and one layer of pocket springs, so you lie on this mattress instead of sinking into it. The aloe is a cover finish and no more than that. Silentnight grades it Medium and the people sleeping on it put it nearer firm, so expect a flat, held-up sort of night.
That suits back or front sleepers of average build and upwards, and a couple who want one person's turning kept to their half. A light side sleeper should avoid it, because there's nothing on top for a shoulder or a hip to drop into.
Silentnight doesn't often excite me, and here it doesn't need to. This is the plain pocket-sprung rung of the range, and pocket springs over connected coils is a trade I'd take every time, so it's the one I'd point you at. The count is the one thing that keeps me from calling it a confident buy.
Mirapocket is why you pick this rung over its sisters
Buy it for the spring unit. Mirapocket is Silentnight's own name for individually wrapped pocket springs, and each spring works by itself, so your weight presses straight down instead of dragging its neighbours with it. The three Miracoil rungs in the range are connected coil, so a turn on one side travels across to the other, and the centre dips over the years. Open coil is fine in a spare room or on a tight budget. For the bed you sleep in nightly, pay the extra and get the pockets.
The count is where I turn cautious. The name promises 800 springs and the figure Dreams publishes against it is 682, so ask which number covers your size before you order. 682 under a double is light, and a thousand is where I'd start. A thin layer of wrapped springs still beats a connected unit at any count. It makes this a sensible mattress, not a special one.
Medium on the ticket, firmer under you
Expect the firm end of medium. The reviews mostly belong to the model this one replaced, so they tell you about the feel and not much else. On feel they line up. Owners who mention firmness mostly found it harder than they'd expected, and the unhappiest got "like sleeping on the hard ground" out of it, though a couple say it settled within days.
The side sleepers contradict each other outright. One woke with sore hips and came to dread bedtime, and another says the hip and back pain they used to wake with has gone. Same mattress, opposite nights. It's why I go on weight first and position second: a slight side sleeper and a sixteen-stone back sleeper aren't after the same Medium.
I'm a light sleeper, so the claim I check first here is the motion one, and wrapped springs really do soak up a partner turning over. Owners praise it for sleeping cool, which is more than a memory foam top would get out of me. And I couldn't find an owner reporting a dip, which beats the pillow-top rung in the range.
Single-sided, and that's the one thing I'd change about it
Only one side of it is for sleeping on, so rotation is the upkeep and a flip is out. I'd rather have a turnable mattress, and no-turn is a saving for the factory dressed up as a feature. At 25cm, though, the fitted sheets you own already will go on without a wrestle.
Keep the slat gaps on your base under 6cm and stay off tubular or mesh frames, because an unsuitable base is an exclusion in the guarantee. It isn't cleared for an adjustable base either.
The Ferndale matches it on paper, and only in a double
Price the Silentnight Ferndale alongside it first. Our Ferndale page carries the next-day Dreams version, and the two line up on everything that decides this mattress: both are graded Medium on 682 pocket springs, at the same 25cm depth. The catch is size, because that Ferndale is a double only, so any other size means this one.
Dreams moves its discounts about between beds like these two, so today's bargain isn't necessarily next month's. On the day you buy, compare the two in your size and go with the lower price. Read the exchange terms before you do, though: the Dreams 100-Night Comfort Guarantee will swap the mattress for another one, it won't hand your money back, and collection costs you, so be sure about the firmness before you order.
What to buy instead
Take whichever of the Castleton and the Ferndale is cheaper on the day. If you want the first few centimetres to give, the Silentnight Aloe Vera Clovelly lays memory foam over the same spring count for more money, and sleeps warmer for it, so hot sleepers stay here. Nothing else in this range gives you more spring than the Castleton, so a fuller unit means shopping outside it.
