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8 best winter duvets that will keep you warm on chilly nights, tried and tested

From high-tech materials to feather and down, these will help you fend off the chill

Ali Howard
Friday 05 January 2024 17:06 GMT
<p>We tested these high-tog covers for breathability, weightiness and affordability  </p>

We tested these high-tog covers for breathability, weightiness and affordability

Our Top Picks

With the colder weather and shorter days, now is the time to invest in a snuggly winter duvet. Not only are they perfect for hunkering down when the Baltic winter nights arrive, they can be a money-saving purchase, too, helping us to stay warm without turning up the dial on the gas-guzzling central heating.

Traditionally, being naturally insulating, a feather or down duvet was thought to be the best defence against the cold but, more and more, we’re seeing advanced man-made materials used that effectively mimic feathers and the fluffy underbelly of birds, with synthetic fibres that are just as warm, lightweight and breathable.

That said, wool duvets are getting a fresh look-in, with contemporary products laying claim to being naturally hypoallergenic, temperature-regulating and moisture-wicking, the ideal properties you’d want in a winter duvet. Not to mention sustainable and eventually biodegradable.

When it comes to thermal tog ratings, a winter-ready duvet should sit somewhere between 10.5 and 15, but this is largely down to personal taste. For some, only the weightiest duvet will provide that perfectly snug feeling all night long. For others, including those with menopausal symptoms and night sweats, a winter duvet should feel snug, yes, but also lightweight enough that you can easily move around beneath it.

A word on washing: while some winter duvets give you the option of a handy machine wash, it’s worth bearing in mind that anything bigger than a standard double duvet (200cm x 200cm) will require a large-capacity washing machine. Depending on the materials used, some brands advise a dry-clean or professional clean only.

How we tested

We slept our way through a wide range of winter and all-season duvets, from high-tech synthetic products to more-traditional feather and down, as well as wool. We trialled the duvets over a number of nights, looking for warmth, first and foremost, but also breathability, weight, quality of craftsmanship and affordability.

The best winter duvets for 2024 are:

  • Best winter duvet overall – Piglet Merino wool duvet: From £189, Pigletinbed.com
  • Best budget winter duvet – Silentnight so snug winter duvet: £40, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best lightweight down duvet – Tielle Love Luxury European goose down duvet: £350, Tielleloveluxury.co.uk
  • Best organic duvet – Woolroom Chatsworth collection wool duvet, warm: £136.49, Amazon.co.uk

Piglet Merino wool duvet

Piglet Merino wool duvet .jpg
  • Best: Winter duvet overall
  • Materials: Merino wool, organic cotton
  • Tog rating: 8-10 (estimated)
  • Sizes: Single, double, king, super king
  • Why we love it
    • Naturally hypoallergenic

Natural and luxurious in equal measure, this high-end, handmade duvet guarantees winter-ready warmth, thanks to a filling of carded Merino sheep’s wool and its 100 per cent organic cotton casing, which is fittingly off-white and unbleached.

Like most pure-wool duvet products, this one doesn’t claim a tog rating but, if it did, it’s estimated to sit somewhere between 8-10. Don’t let that put you off when comparing it with higher tog duvets, however – the material itself is a proven thermo-regulator, making it ideal as a winter duvet, but one that’ll keep your body temperature in check throughout the year, too.

Naturally hypoallergenic, the plump duvet proves kind to the skin and nose, and it comes complete with corner loops, designed to be used with Piglet’s linen bedding offering, to keep it from slipping out of place, which we found to be a nifty design feature.

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Silentnight so snug winter duvet

Silentnight so snug winter duvet .jpg
  • Best: Budget winter duvet
  • Materials: DuPont fibres, microfibre
  • Tog rating: 13.5 or 15
  • Sizes: Single, double, king, super king
  • Why we love it
    • Affordable
    • Bounces back immediately

This synthetic duvet is designed to see us through the coldest winter nights, coming in a choice of 13.5 or an extra cosy 15 tog. While we’re doing our best to avoid reaching for the thermostat, the so snug is reassuringly affordable, too, starting at less than £40 for a double.

Its core is made up of DuPont fibres, which are soft and bouncy and known for their insulation properties. Unlike some feather and down duvets, this one’s guaranteed to stay in shape and has the ability to bounce back immediately. It also boasts a large box-stitch, to keep everything in place.

The casing, too, is a wonderfully soft microfibre and is skin-kind and hypoallergenic. The 15 tog so snug also proves pleasingly chunky, making it a doddle to slip into a duvet cover – and it provides an attractive, solid drape.

  1. £40 from Amazon.co.uk
Prices may vary
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Tielle Love Luxury European goose down duvet

Tielle Love Luxury European goose down duvet .jpg
  • Best: Lightweight down duvet
  • Materials: European goose down, cotton
  • Tog rating: 10.5
  • Sizes: Single, double, king, super king
  • Why we love it
    • Ethically sourced goose down
    • Naturally breathable

For homemakers, this might not be the best-known bedding brand but it’s one that’s loved and trusted in the hospitality industry. If it’s good enough for a boutique hotel, it’s more than good enough for our bedrooms.

The super luxurious duvet is filled with fine, ethically sourced European goose down, making it cosy-warm and wonderfully soft to dive into, as well as being naturally breathable. With a thermal tog rating of 10.5, this is a great all-season duvet. But we found it to be supremely warm and snuggly, nonetheless – ideal for use as a winter duvet if you don’t like to feel too penned in.

For allergy sufferers, the duvet’s crisp, dust-proof casing will be a godsend, while little labels telling you which way round the feet go is a gift for those who often struggle to get a cover on.

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Scooms Hungarian goose down duvet

Scooms Hungarian goose down duvet .jpg
  • Best: For quality craftsmanship
  • Materials: Hungarian goose down, sateen cotton
  • Tog rating: 13.5
  • Sizes: Single, double, king, super king
  • Why we love it
    • Effectively three duvets in one
  • Take note
    • It’s an investment

If you want the best of both worlds, Scooms’s offering combines a traditional goose down product with clever engineering. The hybrid duvet comprises one lightweight 4.5 tog duvet and a warmer nine tog one, which, when snapped together with the tabs included, make up a cosy 13.5 tog winter-ready duvet.

While you’ll need deep pockets for your initial outlay, you are, in effect, purchasing three duvets in one, which goes some way to justify the high price. This also means, of course, it’s the only duvet you’ll need, providing year-round comfort.

The three-in-one duvet is also super luxurious – both pieces are encased in a soft sateen cotton with a silky feel, giving you five-star hotel-style luxury at home. It’s also pleasingly lightweight, the feathers and down are ethically sourced, it boasts anti-allergy properties, and it offers top-quality craftsmanship.

  1. £370 from Scooms.com
Prices may vary
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Woolroom Chatsworth collection wool duvet, warm

Woolroom Chatsworth collection wool duvet, warm .jpg
  • Best: Organic duvet
  • Materials: Wool, organic cotton
  • Tog rating: 11-14 (estimated)
  • Sizes: Single, double, king, super king
  • Why we love it
    • Top quality, fully traceable wool
    • Notable moisture-regulating abilities

This cosy wool duvet equates to a non-wool product with a tog rating of 11-14, making it supremely warm – ideal for the chilliest winter nights. Hand-crafted using only natural materials and fibres, it looks, feels, and even smells pleasingly organic.

What makes this one really special, though, is that it’s filled with the finest quality, fully traceable wool sourced exclusively from the Chatsworth Estate. Its cover, too, is made from 100 per cent organic cotton in its natural ecru colourway.

Its moisture-regulating properties claim to be 67 per cent better than down and 48 per cent better than polyester duvets, and we found that sleeping under the wool duvet gave us a particularly comfortable, sweat-free sleep.

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Simba hybrid 3-in-1 duvet

Simba hybrid 3-in-1 duvet.jpg
  • Best: For user-friendly design
  • Materials: Simba renew clusters, better cotton cover
  • Tog rating: 10.5
  • Sizes: Single, double, king, super king
  • Why we love it
    • Super luxurious
    • Feels lightweight
  • Take note
    • Pricey

This duvet isn’t cheap but it’s the only one you’ll need, thanks to its versatile design that enables you to adapt it to suit the seasons and, ultimately, give you year-round comfort.

From the very moment we opened the package, the hybrid felt incredibly luxurious, with its silky patterned casing and its supple, lightweight feel. This one gives you a combination of one seven tog duvet and one much lighter 3.5 tog number, which can be placed together with corner snaps to create a perfectly warm winter duvet with a combined thermal tog rating of 10.5. It also boasts colour-coded binding to ensure you know which one’s which.

The 3-in-1 duvet lays claim to some impressive engineering and technologically advanced materials, making it temperature-controlling and supremely breathable, whichever configuration you’re using.

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Kronborg of Denmark 13.5 tog KR BEITO duvet, extra warm

Kronborg of Denmark 13.5 tog KR BEITO duvet, extra warm .jpg
  • Best: Fluffy feather and down duvet
  • Materials: European goose down, cotton cambric
  • Tog rating: 13.5
  • Sizes: Single, double, king
  • Why we love it
    • Evenly distributed filling
    • Lightweight, but still toasty warm
  • Take note
    • Not the most purse-friendly pick

This luxurious duvet is filled with 80 per cent white European goose down and 20 per cent white European goose feathers, making it wonderfully fluffy and lightweight, but at the same time, perfectly warm.

It’s not particularly purse-friendly but the devil’s in the detail: think a soft, tightly woven Nomite cotton casing, which helps prevent dust mites, and an intricately stitched box construction with baffled walls to ensure the filling is evenly distributed without any annoying cold patches. We found this one proved to be surprisingly toasty, despite its lightweight make-up, and it kept us comfortably warm throughout the night.

  1. £200 from Jysk.co.uk
Prices may vary
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The Nectar duvet

The Nectar duvet .jpg
  • Best: Affordable all-season duvet
  • Materials: Smartfil fibres with modal, soft-touch microfibre
  • Tog rating: 10.5
  • Sizes: Single, double, king, super king
  • Why we love it
    • Great temperature regulation

We found this affordable duvet to be a great all-rounder, keeping us cool in the summer months yet sufficiently snug in the winter. As an all-seasons duvet, it has a thermal tog rating of 10.5, which is ideal for those who don’t like to feel smothered when the temperature plummets.

The Nectar duvet passes the ‘Goldilocks’ test, thanks to its innovative technology: it boasts a Smartfil core, which is blended with 20 per cent modal. This is a clever material that’s derived from natural wood pulp and is known for both its moisture-wicking properties and its breathability, giving us a great all-round duvet that scores high on temperature regulation. One for those who suffer night sweats, even when it’s sub-zero outside.

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The verdict: Winter duvets

We loved Piglet’s Merino wool duvet for its mix of luxury and organic materials. It felt supremely warm throughout the night, yet we didn’t feel too penned in or too hot. We were also impressed with Scooms’s Hungarian goose down duvet for its clever three-in-one functionality, as well as its superior quality. For a purse-friendly option, the synthetic (but seriously high-tech) Nectar duvet provided a perfectly warm and comfortable sleep.

Looking for more ways to keep warm this winter? We’ve rounded up the best blanket hoodies

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