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A good night's sleep

A good night's sleep

A good night’s sleep

Unsurprisingly, a good night’s sleep always ranks as one of the top priorities for guests staying at an hotel or bed and breakfast. We need rest. And we expect to get plenty of it when we pay for it!

Sleep, or the lack of it, attracts a great deal of media attention. All manner of surveys have been conducted to ascertain how we can obtain a good night’s sleep. Are our bedroom walls the right colour? Have we used electronic gadgetry before going to bed or was that last, large G&T a terrible mistake..? it’s a subject that can provoke heated debate.

History teaches us that some of the rich and famous could function well with very little sleep. (It now seems to be worn by many as a badge of honour.) Margaret Thatcher could supposedly run the country on a mere 4 and a bit hours of slumber, while others before her took it to even more extreme levels. Thomas Edison regarded sleep as a complete waste of time and only used to take regular short naps, (no not the 8 hour variety). Leonardo da Vinci was even more extreme. He allegedly followed the Uberman sleep cycle, napping for only 20 minutes every 4 hours. So much to invent and so little time!

the key to a good night’s sleep

Talking of inventions no-one can be certain when the first bed or mattress were made, but they’ve been in existence a mighty long time. Thankfully the days of straw filled sacks are gone; you now have to decide whether a pocket sprung, memory foam, open coil or firm orthopaedic mattress is the best option for a good night’s sleep.

When I was budgeting for fixtures and fittings in The Cross at Croscombe, I thought long and hard about the type of beds, mattresses and bedding I was going to purchase. It was certainly one of my top priorities and I knew it had to be a significant investment. As long as the room could take it my mantra with regard to beds was to, ‘Go large!’

 

A good night's sleep - Mells bedroom

King size bed in Mells bedroom at The Cross

Fortunately, the local area has a few excellent, independent bed shops and I spent many an hour taking advice and trying them out. (A big thank you to the Wells Bed Shop for their time and expertise.) It was a tough job lounging around on beds but someone had to do it…

On a more serious note I knew that it was important to have beds without a footer. Although nearly all my beds are king size, it made sense not to compromise the sleep of anyone tall. On a practical level I also needed beds that I could Hoover under easily. Who wants to be pulling beds out every day?!

Finally, I believe that you can’t beat crisp, white linen. It gives a great first impression. But what to put in that fresh white duvet cover? It was on to tog ratings and other practical considerations. When you share a bed a second person adds to the warmth factor, while my building dates back to the 15th century my heating system was installed in 2014 and, (apparently) women’s bodies tend to be warmer! If you’re interested, after disseminating that little lot I plumped for 10.5 tog in Microfibre duvets.

So, that has been my methodology behind giving my guests a good night’s sleep. It’s certainly something we can tend to take for granted unless, of course, we don’t get it.

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