Simba's photo shows the Ashdown Solid Ash Bed with a headboard of four wide horizontal boards and only a low rail at the foot, so you get a wooden bed without a panel across your feet. It arrives flat-packed in two boxes, rather than as something you'll have to wrestle upstairs whole.
It suits a couple with a smaller bedroom who'd rather have exposed wood than upholstery. I rate it as a good frame: owners keep describing a sturdy bed that's straightforward to build. Avoid it if you need a single or a small double, because it isn't made in either, or if you want slats that don't flex. Despite the solid-ash wording, its sprung slats are plywood, and early creaking is the frame complaint owners raise most.
The Ashdown's solid-ash frame has plywood slats
The ash frame is a reason to buy this bed, but the highlights line "No plywood, veneer, MDF or chipboard in sight" is wrong. The composition line further down lists plywood for the sprung slats, plus pine for the inner slat rail on each side and the top of the centre rail.
Plywood is a sensible material for a sprung slat, whose job is to bend under you and spring back. A double carries 15 slats on each half of the bed, split by the centre rail, and the bigger sizes carry 16, in three zones that Simba says give your hips and shoulders extra support. Don't assume the zoning will improve your mattress, because the listing never says where the zones fall.
A few owners like the give in the sprung slats, while one found their Simba mattress felt harder here than on a divan. Ask Simba for the gap between the slats before ordering and hold it up against what your mattress maker asks of a base. My own mattress is a hybrid on a king, so that's the number I'd want before getting distracted by the headboard.
Early creaking settles for several Ashdown owners
Several owners heard creaking early on and say it stopped within a week or two. Others describe a quiet, solid bed from the start. A few still hear it weeks in, and one owner regrets buying it because it creaks every time they turn over. I'd still buy this construction, because for several owners the creak settles.
Where owners found a cause, a couple traced it to the centre beam rubbing where it sits, and a fold of kitchen towel or a thin strip of soft plastic stopped it. Another cured a new squeak by tightening the fixings after a few days, which they say the instructions recommend. If the noise won't settle, send it back inside Simba's 200-night trial, which collects beds at no charge across most of the UK.
The other gripe is the fifth leg under the centre rail, which the listing never mentions. Owners call it fiddly to fit, a bit flimsy or a little wonky. I'd want a centre foot on anything this wide, and one heavier couple say the bed has stayed solid for over two months. Once your mattress is on, check the centre leg is touching the floor.
Simba specifies two people with minimal tools, and one owner warns you'll need a Phillips screwdriver the paperwork never mentions, so "Effortless" is doing a little overtime. A few report marks, gappy corner joints or damage on arrival, though most who mention the finish praise it. Inspect the corners before you build it.
The compact Ashdown leaves floor space around a centre support
With the feet on, the double is 142cm by 197cm (4ft 8in by 6ft 6in), the king 157cm by 207cm (5ft 2in by 6ft 10in) and the super king 187cm by 207cm (6ft 2in by 6ft 10in), only 7cm (under 3in) more each way than the mattress it takes.
The headboard stands 100cm (3ft 3in) tall, and one owner found it comfortable to sit up against. That doesn't tell you how high you'll sit, so find out how far the slats are off the floor and add your mattress depth. Owners keep finding room underneath for storage boxes, but plan on boxes that go in from each side and stop short of the centre leg.
The washed finish gives the ash a soft sheen, but the shade isn't fixed: one owner found it darker than the website photos and another called it slightly orange.
What to buy instead
If you'd rather have rigid slats, I'd choose Dreams' Penelope Wooden Bed Frame. It's solid rubberwood with solid slats and a woven headboard panel in a warm walnut finish, so you lose the all-wood look. Wood on rigid slats is my long-life pick, and your mattress will feel firmer on slats that don't flex.
For sprung slats in another wood, look at the solid-rubberwood Brimsley Wooden Bed Frame, also at Dreams. Like the Penelope's woven panel, its velvet headboard will mark where bare wood won't, so buy it for the upholstered look.
