I feel like I’ve missed out on decades of amazing sleep… not due to the obvious reason that I am mother to two young boys (although they don’t help) – but because I have only just discovered the JOY of 100% linen bedlinen.
Oh and what a joy it is. Let me count the ways – firstly the lazy housekeeper in my loves the crumpled glory of it (who has time to iron bedlinen?!); the beautiful slightly textured weave of the fabric and the gorgeous muted tones it comes in. Then there’s the cool factor – no overheating, just cool, breathable natural yarns. Sometimes the silky satiny-ness of high thread-count Egyptian cotton is a-mazing, but for summer, i’m a linen lover.
So let’s start with the big boys. The Linen Works. Sometimes, if I’m feeling particularly stressed, I go and peruse their website – just so I can imagine lying here. In silence. Works every time.
I’ve been to their press days (I used to edit a magazine for Chelsea, where they are based), I’ve felt their thread count – this is the Rolls Royce, Mutt’s nuts, holy grail of linen bedlinen (well, apart from Frette but that is OBSCENE). I cannot dispute its perfection and having inherited some 80+ year old monogrammed linen sheets from my Italian husband’s great grandfather (is that creepy?!) I can attest that amazing quality linen does just get better with age. A proper investment, which warrants the price tag – if I had my time again I’d have my wedding list here.
But as I’m not in the market currently for £200 duvet covers, I was chuffed to spot in Ikea last week that they’ve started doing a rather passable 100% linen range: 
I appreciate this is like comparing Wagu beef with a Big Mac but still – as my dad used to say: ‘you’ve got to cut your cloth accordingly’ – and this is my cloth. At La Retraite we have kitted out all the rooms with H&M linen bedlinen – we’ve been super impressed with the quality and how well it washes (essential when we have high turnover in summer season) – I love this new stripe this season – so French!
