You've got a mattress you mostly like, but it's a touch too firm under your hip or it wakes you up clammy, and you'd rather not spend mattress money putting it right. The Woolroom Deluxe Wool Mattress Topper is made for exactly that: one layer of British wool quilted into an unbleached organic cotton case and held on your own bed by corner straps, with no foam anywhere in it. Lie down and it gives softly under your shoulder, like a thick duvet underneath you. It's the first rung of Woolroom's toppers, the plain quilted one below the tufted premium pair.
What it gives you is a softer top on the same mattress, and it's thinner than you'd guess. Woolroom sells it as 4 to 5cm deep, and owners who've put a tape measure on it find nearer 2 or 3cm. So buy it to take the edge off a bed that's a bit too firm. If your mattress has dipped, or it's hard enough that your hip aches every morning, this won't put it right. And if heat is your only problem, the thinner Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Mattress Protector is the cooler buy, by Woolroom's own advice and mine.
A quilted wool layer that packs down under you
The filling is 1000gsm of British wool, which means a kilogram of it to every square metre, sewn into a 200 thread count organic cotton case with no synthetic lining. Wool gets its softness from air trapped between springy fibres. The height you see when it comes out of the bag is the wool with nobody on it, and your weight presses some of that air out. That's where the missing centimetres go, and it's why one owner called the change "a subtle but very real difference".
The feel sits between the toppers you'll have tried before. You don't sink into it the way you do with memory foam, and it doesn't go flat under you like feather. One owner put it as "not as bouncy as latex but not as 'dead' as memory foam", which is a fair description of springy wool.
The case is stitched in boxes with a piped edge, but it isn't tufted through like Woolroom's premium toppers, whose tufting keeps their filling in place. So the wool in this one can drift and pack under the heaviest part of you. Woolroom's answer is a good shake whenever you change the sheets, and one owner who shakes it weekly says it stays plump. A few found it pressed flat under the hip within weeks, while others are years in and still happy. Turn it head to foot now and then as well, so the same patch isn't always under your hip.
The wool comes from British farms and is traceable through Woolroom's Wool ID scheme. The topper itself is assembled in the EU, which surprised a few owners who saw British wool and assumed the rest. It's well finished either way: owners who wanted it thicker still call it well made, and they describe the cotton as smooth and almost silky.
It softens a firm bed and follows a dipped one
A topper fixes a mattress that's too firm. It never fixes one that's sagging. Asked about a mattress that dips on each side, Woolroom's own staff said "the topper would form onto the shape of the mattress", and they're right: lay it over a dip and you're still lying in the dip, only on wool.
Where it works is a sound mattress that's firmer than you'd like. Side sleepers feel the difference first, because a firm bed pushes back hardest where your shoulder and hip meet it, so an inch or so of wool softens that first contact. Owners with firm pocket-sprung beds, an extra-firm orthopaedic mattress and hard caravan mattresses all describe it the same way, and one says they "can't feel the springs in my mattress any more". A guest bed, a sofa bed or a caravan is a good home for it, because a topper sorts out most of those.
Where it falls short is pain. Owners who bought it for an arthritic hip, fibromyalgia or a sore shoulder on a hard mattress found it nowhere near soft enough. "It is not going to support me where I need it", as one owner put it. If your mattress hurts rather than just feels firm, this layer is too thin to change that. Buy a deeper topper or a softer mattress, and take a pain that won't settle to your GP.
Cooler than a foam topper, warmer than a protector
Memory foam toppers sleep hot, to my mind, and wool is what I'd put on a bed instead. Wool takes moisture from your skin and lets it out into the room, so you don't lie in your own damp. Owners on foam and hybrid mattresses keep reporting the same thing. One owner's "foam mattress was reflecting the heat straight back at me" until the wool went on top. Wool is how you stop waking up clammy, and Woolroom is who I'd buy it from.
It's still a thick layer of wool under you, and Woolroom says so itself: a topper puts more wool against your body than a protector does, so if keeping cool is the main reason you're buying, the brand points you to the protector. A handful of owners found the topper warm, "very comfortable but quite warm" in one's words. My line is simple. On a foam bed that's hot and a touch too firm, buy this. On a bed that's the right firmness and sleeps warm, buy the protector and leave the feel alone.
Cold sleepers like it for the opposite reason, and owners who run cold call it toasty within minutes. My own habit is an electric blanket on a timer before bed, switched off when I get in, and a wool layer goes well with that way of sleeping: a warm bed in a cool room.
Straps, sheets and a sheepy smell
Elastic straps hook under each corner and fit mattresses up to 35cm deep. Plenty of owners say it stays where it's put. A few on deep or large beds found the straps popped off when they made the bed, and Woolroom's staff told one owner not to pull it on too tight. A deep fitted sheet over the top keeps it square.
It comes in ten sizes, including Single XL, Small Double, the European double and king, Emperor and a 215cm square Large Emperor, so odd-sized beds are covered. On a zip-and-link bed it smooths over the join, and one owner sleeping across two 90cm mattresses says "the join is undetectable". It's light, too, from about 3kg for a single to 6kg for a super king, so shaking it out is a one-person job.
Expect a sheepy smell when it comes out of its calico bag. Some owners love it ("I adore the slight sheepy smell") and some found it strong for the first week or two, but it fades. Woolroom's way to freshen it is a few hours outside, and I'd give it that on the first day.
Dry clean only, so cover it with something washable
Woolroom's care instruction is dry clean only, at a non-toxic cleaner, and never the washing machine or the tumble dryer. You'll find owners who say they've washed theirs. Follow the maker. When it's off the bed, it goes back in its calico bag, never a vacuum bag, because squashing the air out of wool is the last thing a topper this thin needs.
That makes a protector on top sensible, which is an odd thing for me to say, because protectors usually aren't for me: on most mattresses they stop the bed breathing. Woolroom recommends one over the topper, and the Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Mattress Protector is the only one I'd say yes to: wool lets air through, and it goes in the machine when the topper can't. The topper adds height, so over it I'd buy the Extra-Deep Skirt version, whose skirt still tucks well under.
What to buy instead
If your mattress is the right firmness and simply runs hot, buy the Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Mattress Protector on its own. It puts a thinner layer of wool between you and the mattress, which is what Woolroom itself suggests for heat, and it washes.
If you want wool and more of it, the Hypnos Inspired by Nature Wool Enhancer at Bensons for Beds costs a lot more and makes a bigger change: it's 7cm deep, adds a layer of Solotex polyester to the wool, and you can turn it over. For a mattress that's only a little too firm, I'd still buy the Woolroom and keep the difference.
And if your mattress has dipped or sagged, skip toppers altogether and put the money towards a new mattress.
