Spending the weekend in a gorgeous library is a bit of a dream, isn't it? Nothing to do but drink tea, read books while curled up on a huge chair. There's a Library Hotel in New York that I've had my beady eye on for quite a while (their rooms are based on the Dewey Decimal System!) but New York is a long way to go on a little budget.
Gladstone's Library in Flintshire on the Welsh border is much closer than New York. Look at that building!
Gladstone's is a residential library with accommodation throughout. They also run creative writing workshops and a writers in residence program. This is a happy place, full of words and thinking.
The rooms are simple, although I wish the newly-refurbished ones were a little more in keeping with the rest of the gorgeous building - they're a little too new and shiny for my liking - but at £87 per night for a double en-suite including dinner and breakfast, I can forgive them a bright lick of paint.
Food in the restaurant appears simple (it's a coffee shop by day, and open to the public), just as you'd expect in a real library. Did you ever stay in a library so long that the librarians were tapping their pens waiting for you to finishing up and get out? With Gladstone's, you just wouldn't have to leave.
Impressively, it doesn't seem be be booked up for the next eleventy billion years (even though students only pay £33 for full board!) and there are rooms available in the coming weeks - even over weekends. Pack pens, pack nice paper and stay at least four days longer than you'd planned. There are a lot of books to get through.
£87 including dinner and breakfast? You'd pay that for a soy latte in London.
ReplyDeleteThe issue there is that you're drinking soy lattes.
DeleteI have a friend from America, in her 80's, who stays at the Gladstone each time she visits the UK. Spending afternoons talking to her about her life, in the sitting room of the Gladstone library while drinking tea, are some of my loveliest memories. It is a beauuuuuutiful place. That gorgeous brown leather sofa in your pic is as comfy as they come. Em x
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to persuade my husband to take me somewhere nice to do Xmas shopping with a stay in a hotel too. I'm thinking Xmas shopping in Chester and staying here! Squeeeee!
ReplyDeleteI've stayed here a few times and it's wonderful. More people need to book in as they are always short of cash. I met some really fascinating people from all over the world, the rooms are great, the baths are steamy hot and you can pad down to the library at 9.30 at night to grab a book. Bliss.
ReplyDeleteThe more people that comment on this with their own memories of the place, the more likely I am to go there for a whole week. Sounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt's a gorgeous place to visit, coming from a Londoner who now lives in Cheshire but it is over the border in Flintshire, not Cheshire! Give the Welshies some credit DS :)
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I was mislead by the CH postcode!
DeleteHa! Pesky postcode. There's a similar amount of delights in Chester too though, maybe its a sign a post wants to be written!
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ReplyDeleteOh gosh, you're all making me want to go immediately! What nice stories.
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend trained as a librarian here for a year back in 2008/2009. I used to go and stay with him most weekends. It was always the most welcoming, friendly and relaxing place to visit.
ReplyDeleteMy fiance trained as a librarian here for a year in 2008/2009. I used to go and visit him most weekends and it was the most welcoming, friendly and relaxing place. It's wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHeh, did you just get engaged Emilia?
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