Hawarden Castle: Inside the new West End residence at William Gladstone's one-of-a-kind home

A roaring fire was waiting for us, the flames hungrily licking the wood with a satisfying crackle. The sun had just set on a day of icy winter sunshine, the old castle now illuminated and framed by the sitting room’s Gothic-style arched windows. 

We had arrived for a weekend at The West End, a generous hunk of Hawarden Castle in . Once the Flintshire home of the 19th century prime minister William Gladstone, its western wing has been recast as a holiday house by its current custodians, Charlie