If you want a cosy night’s sleep then there are lots of tips people might offer – from a hot water bottle to warm bed socks.
But one more opulent idea is bedding that’s so luxurious that it was used to keep the Royal Family warm in Windsor Castle until it was reportedly swapped for a more modern duvet: eiderdown.
Originating from Iceland, real eiderdown is one of the warmest natural fibres you can find.
There just one drawback, however, and that’s its extortionate cost – an eiderdown double duvet could really set you back. They are currently selling on the John Lewis website for a whopping £7,205.00.
So why is the material that’s harvested from the nests of eider ducks found wild in Iceland so expensive?
For starters, eiderdown farmers must diligently collect the feathers from the nests and it’s definitely no easy task.
Erla Fridriksdottir, CEO of King Eider Co, told Business Insider: “The eiderdown is a natural product and when the eider duck leaves the nest, she leaves the down and so if we would not take the down it would just blow away and be useless.”
Farmers have to collect every feather by hand – each next might contain just 15g of down.
Ms Fridriksdottir added: “We have 240 islands in Breiðafjörður and the islands that the eider duck nests are in are 150 and we have to go between all the islands by small boats.
“The nests are not very close to each other so we have to walk around all the islands to find the nests. And it can be difficult to find the nest.”
Collecting the eiderdown is only the beginning as sticks, seaweed and larger feathers get stuck within it. Mounds of the fluffy, cosy features are moved to an oven and baked to dry out any of the unwanted debris.
But for the few that can afford it, people say it’s worth the effort.
Fine Linen and Bath brand manager Erika Cellupica explained more on her company’s website.
She said: “Eiderdown transforms a simple night’s sleep into an experience of sensory indulgence.”
The company sells its own version of an eiderdown duvet, the SFERRA Utopia which will set you back $10494.00 (£8297.82) for a twin bed.
She added: “As the name ‘Utopia’ says, this duvet embodies absolute perfection.”
