Dreams' Sleepmatch machine sends a lot of people who like a soft bed towards the Beatrice, and they all want to know the same thing before they pay: is it worth the money? It's Sleepeezee's soft mattress for Dreams, sold nowhere else: layers of memory foam, support foam and polyester over a two-tier pocket-spring unit, finished in a fuzzy teddy-velour cover. As the only Sleepeezee there graded Soft, it fills the sink-in end of the range, a rung softer than the Medium-graded Sleepeezee Zenith 4500, which suits anyone who likes the idea and wants less sink. A side sleeper's shoulder and hip settle slowly into the foam, the way memory foam always does, until the springs underneath stop them.
It suits lighter and average-weight side sleepers who want a bed that cradles them, and couples where one of you wakes when the other turns over, because the foam soaks up the movement before it crosses the bed. I'm a light sleeper who wakes at almost anything, so that part appeals to me more than I'd like. Hot sleepers, restless turners and anyone close to the 18 stone (114kg) per person Dreams recommends as a ceiling should look at other beds. Restless sleepers want springs or latex that bounce back straight away, and this much memory foam makes every turn a slow one.
Nothing about the recipe is wrong. Memory foam over pocket springs is a great combination, and plenty of owners say they sleep better on it than on anything they've owned. At full price, though, it's a lot of money for what's inside, and you can get more bed for it. The price moves a long way through the year and it has sold for far less in Dreams' sales, so buy it in one of those or buy something else.
The Sleepeezee Beatrice mattress is soft on top, with springs that stop the sink
Before you reach a single spring there's polyester, support foam, memory foam, more support foam and more polyester. That makes a thick, slow top. Your hip goes in first, the foam spreads your weight along your side, and further down you meet a layer of tiny springs and then the deeper wrapped unit, which pushes back with more bounce than people expect from a bed sold as Soft.
That bounce is why the label splits people. One owner found the delivered bed harder than the shop one, another calls it so firm it left them with a bad back every morning, and one titled her review "Don't be fooled by the soft label". Others found the opposite: too soft to support their backs. I believe the owners over the label: call it soft to medium. Lighter people get the softness, while heavier people sink through the foam to the springs and feel something close to medium.
Perch on the side of it in the morning and you'll sink further than the reinforced edge would have you expect, because the memory foam runs right out to the border. One owner put it plainly: "you sink quite a bit". Two people sharing a double will notice that, since a soft edge leaves you less of the bed to sleep on.
Memory foam runs warm, and this one wears a fleecy cover on top of it. The breathable mesh border runs round the sides, where nobody sleeps. Some owners find it cosy and a couple wake up hot. If you sleep with one foot out from under the duvet all year round, buy something else.
A few owners lost their support within two years
These reports come from people who bought the Beatrice itself, not an older model. A few say it stopped supporting their backs before its second birthday, one with dips on both sides of a shared king. Two of them had it inspected, and each time the dip was measured and called within tolerance.
Set against the crowd of happy owners, I don't read that as every Beatrice going the same way. I do read it as a reason to know your guarantee before you need it. Sleepeezee's terms leave out normal settlement and name no depth of dip that counts as a fault, which is exactly the clause I tell everyone to read. They also void the guarantee if the care instructions aren't followed, so rotate it on schedule from the first week and keep a note of when you did.
At full price you're paying for foam, springs and a teddy finish
There are 2,948 pocket springs, set in two tiers: tiny micro springs nested over a deeper wrapped unit with a firmer border round it. If you carry some weight, ask in store which size that count is for and how many are full height. To my mind those tiny springs swell the count more than they change how the bed lies under you, and I'd rather the money went into thicker comfort layers or natural fillings, and there are no natural fillings here at all.
If you knew its predecessor, the Claremont, the Beatrice is Dreams' update of it, with more springs and a reworked top, and it's still made by hand in the UK.
The teddy cover is the bit that sells it in the showroom, super soft and fuzzy in Dreams' words. At home you'll barely feel it. Dreams wants a mattress protector on from the start before it will honour its 100-Night Comfort Guarantee, and one owner found the soft finish disappeared under the protector and a sheet. Put one on anyway, and know that it hides the feature you fell for. Read its terms too: you can swap to another mattress after the first month for a fee, and you can't get your money back, so pick carefully first time round.
32cm deep and 43kg in a double, so plan the sheets and the lifting
At 32cm (about 12 and a half inches) it's a tall mattress. Buy extra-deep fitted sheets, because standard ones won't reach round the corners. Think about the base too: on an ottoman or a divan with drawers, shorter people end up sitting on the edge with their feet off the floor.
The double weighs 43kg, the king 48kg and the super king 57kg. You're meant to spin it end to end every week while it's new, then monthly after the first three months. It's single-sided, so there's no flipping it over. With two of you the rotation takes a minute. On your own it's a workout. It isn't suitable for Dreams' Sleepmotion adjustable bases, so put it on a flat base.
Two Dreams beds to weigh against the Beatrice
If you want soft at Dreams and the full price makes you wince, buy the Dream Team Ashbourne for a fraction of the money. It's soft, pocket sprung, filled with wool and turnable, which the Beatrice isn't. You lose the slow cradle of memory foam and gain a bed that sleeps cooler and shares its wear across two sides. Expect the delivered Ashbourne to feel firmer than the floor model at first.
If it's memory foam over springs you love and you're a heavier or back sleeper, step to the Sleepeezee Zenith 4500 in the same shop. It's graded Medium, it carries more pocket springs, and its graphite memory foam sits under a knitted cover made for airflow instead of teddy velour. Otherwise wait for a sale and buy the Beatrice, because at the right price it's a lovely bed.
