To celebrate World Book Day we’ve picked 10 lovely literary retreats for bookworms
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