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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Travel
Rhiannon Batten

From book butlers to library sleepovers: 10 great UK places to stay for book lovers

United Kingdom William Gladstone BB
Gladstone’s Library, in Hawarden, north Wales
Gladstone’s Library, in Hawarden, north Wales Photograph: Gladstone's Library

Library sleepover, Flintshire

Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden is the ultimate destination for those who like to wind down with a bedtime story. Founded by William Gladstone, the former British prime minister, in 1894, the Grade I-listed library is now home to 250,000 works, some 32,000 of them shuttled there in a wheelbarrow by Gladstone himself – at the age of 85 – from Hawarden castle. Run as a charity, the property is the UK’s only residential library, with 26 bedrooms and a bistro as well as those hallowed reading rooms.
Doubles from £135, B&B, with various discounts for students, clergy and members of the Society of Authors, gladstoneslibrary.org

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