Duvets for different seasons?

A thermometer can help you decide on the perfect warmth of duvet for your room and for you.

Go by your own body temperature, not just the season.

We believe that you shouldn’t choose a duvet based on the season, but instead, choose it on your own body thermometer – and how good your house central heating is!   If you get chilly feet in bed, go for a warmer duvet. If you tend to suffer from night sweats, or you’re choosing a duvet for a child, you’ll need a cooler one for most of the year.  If you vary a lot, try an all-seasons duvet which you can combine depending on how you’re feeling.

Most people these days have centrally heated, warm houses now that rarely dip below 18 degrees, so unless you’ve got an older or chillier property, you probably won’t need a ‘winter’ duvet very often.  What we find is that you use the ‘winter’ duvets – above 10 tog – in those in-between-seasons when you haven’t yet put the heating on full, or the weather’s variable in spring time.

Regardless, a light duvet is needed for those summer nights, and a slightly warmer one for the rest of the year.    This is where ‘all seasons’ duvets can be a really good buy.

An All-Seasons Duvet tends to be two duvets that clip together either by poppers,  buttons or velcro. This is a great combination that will take you through the whole year as it effectively gives you three duvets in one.    A common ‘all seasons’ combined duvet is a: 4.5 tog duvet + 9 tog duvet = 13.5 tog duvet when put together.

What if he gets hot and I get cold?  

Most of us have a slightly different internal temperature gauge to our partners.  If you don’t want to put on the thermal pyjamas every night – or don’t want to suggest he does – you’ll want a better solution.  Putting an extra blanket on top of the duvet isn’t great either as it tends to slip off when you move, or make it’s way over to you partner instead.   We wrote about these partner duvets in February  – see our article on his and hers duvets here;  or go straight the review of the Partners’ Dual Tempo Duvet for a well-priced duvet solution to this problem.  

For a summary of what these seasons really mean in terms of warmth and how they relate to Tog ratings, go to our chart on the ‘TOGs explained’ page here.