What your home really needs is... new towels

THE ancient origins of the word towel (dating back to about 500 BC in what is now Germany) indicate that it was a household essential long before the contemporary obsession with personal hygiene.

In today’s testing times, your home needs a towel upgrade to create the feel of a luxe spa in your bathroom. Towels with a high GSM ( grams per square metre), a measure of weight and absorbency, provide the best experience.

GSM information can be hard to uncover, but The White Company ( thewhitecompany.com) is happy to come clean. Its 500 GSM HydroCotton range starts at £16 for a hand towel to £52 for a super-jumbo. A four-piece set of 650 GSM Egyptian cotton towels in charcoal, pink, silver and white from Fox & Ivy, the upmarket Tesco brand, costs £28 ( tesco. com). Prices for Next’s 650 GSM Egyptian cotton line, pictured, go up to £24 for an extra-large bath sheet ( next.com). Your home may not be a hotel, but with towels like these, it can be the next best thing.