India, Sept. 1 -- Spending the night at a museum might be every culture lover's fantasy. After all, it's been immortalised by the movies as an after-hours adventure where history comes alive. But for book lovers, there's an even better dream: falling asleep just steps away from centuries-old shelves, waking to sunlight filtering through stained-glass windows, and sipping your morning tea in a library built to be lived in.

Step into Gladstone's Library, Britain's only residential library and one of the rare places in the world where you can spend the night surrounded by books. With oak-panelled reading rooms, a collection of more than 150,000 books, 26 bookish bedrooms, and a fireplace-lit sitting room, this neo-Gothic sanctuary offers a ...