Luxury British bedmaker Vispring welcomed Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex to its factory on Ernesettle Lane in Plymouth earlier this month.

The Countess of Wessex enjoyed a tour of the factory and met many of the staff before officially opening the company’s new showroom.

As active supporters of the Campaign for Wool, both HRH and Vispring are passionate about the use of British wool. Vispring is proud to use more Platinum Certified pure British fleece wool than any other bedmaker in the world, and the factory team were able to show The Countess of Wessex how the fibre is used within Vispring’s beds.

Chris Harrison, Vispring’s operations director, explained the benefits of using wool for bedmaking, before Kevin Webb, who has worked in the natural fillings section for more than 15 years, explained how he creates unique blends of materials to hand-fill Vispring’s mattresses.

As a major local employer, Vispring was also keen to highlight its apprenticeship programme and commitment to ensuring that its specialist bedmaking skills are passed on to future generations. Vispring’s training co-ordinator, Jenny Lambert, explained the company’s training initiatives, before its newest recruit, Radoslav Grudlev, demonstrated how to side-stitch a mattress by hand. HRH then took the opportunity to try her hand at side-stitching.

Vispring’s operations director, Chris Harrison, comments: “We are very grateful to The Countess of Wessex for taking the time to visit our factory. We are devoted to using only the finest natural materials and highest standards of craftsmanship to make our bespoke beds and mattresses, so it has been a great honour to have the opportunity to show HRH the process first hand.”