Sleeping with The Golden Fleece

My Woolrest Golden Fleece wool underlay arrived in the post yesterday. Not a moment too soon. Living in a 1850’s cottage built with the insulation qualities of a Collette Dinnigan silk gown, is taking its toll on my beauty sleep. The house is so cold at night that I’ve taken to sleeping in neoprene skiwear (circa 1980’s). Genius solution except I’ve chunked up a bit since the last time ski-ing 18 years ago, so the neoprene one-piece is a smidgeon too tight. In fact, I can barely breathe, which is perfectly fine because it takes my mind off the cold. If this sheepishly warm bed fleece hadn't arrived today, I was considering moving into the former nuns' bedrooms at The Convent Gallery. Technically heritage preserved rooms but they do look mighty cosy.

Kiwi woolen bed-wear rocks! I don’t know whether it’s year-round luscious grazing in stunning Lord of the Rings landscapes that makes Kiwi sheepsters just a little more star-studded than sheep from other countries. Maybe it’s living on the doorstep of Antarctica in some of the freshest, unpolluted air in the world, that gives their wool extra weight, shine and fluffiness. Or possibly it’s because New Zealand is the 8th Happiest Country in the World (United Nations World Happiness Report 2012) that somehow translates to Kiwi sheep having such healthy and voluptuous fleeces loved the world over. 

Even the sheep are besotted with their own wool. One particular South Island Merino, Shrek, loved his fleece so much, he hid in a cave for six years to elude shearing. When finally found in 2004, Shrek was carrying an enormous fleece weighing 25 kilograms (now in the Guinness Book of Records); about three times the average fleece. After having 22 kilograms of fine merino wool shorn from his body, Shrek looked anorexic and a little chilly. Thankfully iconic NZ merino clothing brand, Icebreaker, came to Shrek’s rescue, with a custom-made fleece jacket. People often ask me what exactly it is that makes the New Zealand lifestyle so special… well if this much attention is given to the health and happiness of sheep (and there’s 31 million of them), imagine how the population of 4.3 million is living! 


I’m not saying that other countries don’t have great sheep… just that Kiwi sheep and the nation's weavers of woollen magic are Legendary. 


Woolrest created the world’s first wool fleece underlay, back in the days when John Travolta’s hair was almost as fluffy as woolly slippers. Today, Woolrest underlay is the Festival de Cannes' Palme d’Or of bedding (if there was such an award). Imagine the shorn virgin wool from eight A-List Merino and Down sheep, tightly huddled together to create a thick-piled mattress pad. Naturally cushioning your body and reducing the load on pressure points such as hips and shoulders. Then there’s the thermal warmth factor! Woollen fibres are scientifically proven to keep pockets of air close to your body, in a tiny micro-environment. The fibres subsequently disperse heat and moisture from your body; maintaining even body temperature throughout the night. Warm in winter, cool in summer (I can’t quite get my head around how this works but its true nonetheless).


Would love to stay and chat more.. but time for Afternoon Tea in bed. Then maybe a little nap.

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