Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 Mattress review: an all-natural mattress for back sleepers at a reasonable price

Sleepy Piglet is an adorable new name in the bed business, but its mattresses are refreshingly traditional. It sells a range of pocket sprung mattresses that are made to order and shipped flat rather than rolled and boxed, so they're good to go as soon as they arrive.

In the Sleepy Piglet range you'll find an assortment of hybrid beds at affordable prices, but for me the real eye-catchers are its Natural mattresses: old-school pocket sprung beds made with natural materials and not a trace of foam. Materials-wise, they're comparable with Simba's Natural Hybrid range, only much cheaper, and as someone who sleeps on one of these (the Natural Hybrid Apex, previously known as the Simba Earth Apex), I was keen to see how these more affordable options measure up as an option for anyone in search of the best mattress.

I've been testing out the mid-range option, the Natural 1500, in a single size for the past three weeks. Here's how it measured up.

Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 Mattress review: price and availability

The Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 mattress sits in the middle of the brand's Natural range, price-wise, but really there's not a lot between the three of them. The Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 starts at £599 and comes in at £649 for a double, while the cheaper Natural 1000 is £599 and the top-end Natural 2000 is £699.

They're pretty much identical in terms of fabric and fill; the only real difference is in the number of pocket springs. You get 1,500 in the Natural 1500; can you guess how many you get in the Natural 1000 and Natural 2000?!

There's not a lot in the way of discounts at Sleepy Piglet, which isn't that surprising given the reasonable prices. However at the moment you can get 5% off your order if you sign up for the brand's newsletter.

The mattress comes with free delivery and returns, and for an extra £49.99 they'll take away your old mattress and recycle it. You'll also get a 100-night trial and 10-year guarantee.

Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 Mattress review: setup

Delivery of my Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 mattress was a breeze. Because the mattress is made to order there's a little wait between you clicking the Buy button and your bed being dispatched, but in my case this took just five days (you'll wait much longer with other traditional mattress brands) before the mattress was dispatched for next day delivery.

I was given a four-hour delivery window with the promise that the driver would call me half an hour before delivery, and that's exactly what happened. Sleepy Piglet doesn't do VIP delivery, but the driver was happy to help me get the mattress down the hall to my spare room before going on his way. The mattress was wrapped in recyclable plastic and cardboard, and it took me just five minutes to remove this and leave the mattress to settle on the bed for the rest of the day.

I wasn't anticipating any off-gassing from this mattress because it's not made with foam and it's delivered flat, and as expected there wasn't any; that's worth knowing about if you're sensitive to chemical odours from fresh memory foam beds-in-boxes.

Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 Mattress review: design

The 10.5"/26cm-tall Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 is a traditional mattress with some luxurious touches. At its core is a set of 1,500 pocket springs, designed to give the mattress a medium-firm feel. Above the springs there are three breathable comfort layers: an inner cotton pad to cushion the springs, a silk and cashmere blend pad to add softness, and a moisture-wicking wool pad that gives the mattress a temperature-neutral quality.

Because this mattress is designed to be turned, you also get the same three layers on the other side of the springs. The feel is the same on either side, unlike flippable mattresses such as the Eve Wunderflip, but it means that you can both turn and rotate your mattress to keep it in top condition for longer.

A plant-based viscose damask fabric tops off the mattress, while the edges are made of heavyweight ticking, with two rows of hand stitching as well as handles for easy manoeuvring. Finally, this mattress is fully tufted, ensuring that all its layers will stay in place for years to come.

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Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 Mattress review: performance

Mattresses described as medium-firm make me a little nervous. I'm a lightweight combination sleeper who usually ends up sleeping on their side, and for me a medium-firm can often be far too firm for comfortable side sleeping. Case in point: the Simba Earth Apex is right on the firmness cusp for me, but thanks to its zoned support it provides just enough cushioning for my bony shoulders.

Sleepy Piglet rates the Natural 1500 as medium-firm, and I quickly discovered that it's definitely at the firmer end of the scale. Its tufted surface looks soft and squishy but this is actually a pretty solid-feeling mattress, and I quickly realised that side sleeping would be out of the question for me.

For back and stomach sleeping, however, I found that it provided a decent amount of comfort and support across my whole body, and in the interests of science I also tried combining the Natural 1500 with my REM-Fit Halo mattress topper, and found that it transformed the mattress into one that was completely comfortable and supportive in all sleeping positions.

As I was testing a single mattress, I didn't really get a natural opportunity to rate the Natural 1500's motion isolation qualities, although I can note I wasn't disturbed by my quite hefty cat jumping on the bed. I did notice this mattress has quite a bit of bounce to it, so I tested it out by placing a wine glass on the surface and dropping an 8kg weight onto the mattress to see how the glass reacted.

Dropping the weight 25 inches away made the glass wobble a little, while dropping it at a distance of 12 inches made it topple instantly. That's not brilliant, and worth bearing in mind if you or your partner are easily disturbed by movement.

Simply placing the weight of the surface of the mattress also demonstrated how firm it is; it barely sank into the mattress at all. It sank a little more when placed on the edge of the mattress, but I also noticed that when I sat on the edge myself it squished down quite a bit.

While I never felt in danger of rolling off the edge of the bed, I'd suggest that anyone with mobility issues might struggle with getting in and out of bed with the Natural 1500's limited edge support.

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One final note is that throughout testing in February, when the temperatures ranged from very cold to unseasonably warm, I never once found myself overheating. That shouldn't really be a surprise; there's no foam in the Natural 1500 to trap heat, and its breathable design means that even the hottest sleepers should maintain a comfortable temperature in any weather.

Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 Mattress review: verdict

There's quite a bit to like about the Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500. It's made entirely from eco-friendly materials, it's really well-made and built to last, it doesn't get hot in the night and it feels a lot more luxurious than its price might suggest. If you're a dedicated back or stomach sleeper – or a heavier side sleeper – you should get on really well with it.

Lighter side sleepers are likely to struggle with its lack of pressure relief, however. This is a very firm mattress that won't provide enough cushioning for your hips and shoulders when you sleep on your side, and while I managed to fix this with the addition of a memory foam topper, it's not an ideal solution. I also found the Natural 1500 a little lacking in terms of motion isolation and edge support, but these are minor criticisms. In short this is a no-nonsense bed that's definitely worth investigating if you're after a traditional mattress that punches well above its price point.

Sleepy Piglet Natural 1500 Mattress review: alternatives to consider

If you're looking for a traditional mattress at a lower price than the Sleepy Piglet, the Happy Beds Ortho Royale is a decent orthopaedic spring mattress that delivers similar levels of firmness. Its open-spring design means that it's likely to be not so hot at motion isolation, though.

For a more premium eco-friendly bed, Simba's Natural Hybrid range is worth a look. I can personally recommend the Natural Hybrid Apex but it's expensive; a more affordable option is the Natural Hybrid Source, which we reviewed when it was called the Simba Earth Source.

If you really want to splurge on a traditional mattress, however, check out the Button & Sprung Teesdale Pocket Sprung Mattress. This luxurious bed is handmade in the UK and 100% natural, and it boasts impressive temperature regulation and motion isolation qualities.