Haworth

Always go to Haworth on a May Bank Holiday with my Mum, have done so for years! Haven’t been into the Parsonage for a while (went too often as a child!) but always enjoy a wander down the cobbled lane and back up which gives you a bit of exercise! There are plenty of interesting little shops on both sides of the lane (a couple now selling the old-fashioned novelty sweets and the inevitable nick nack shops) and we usually finish off with lunch in the Black Bull. Great day out rain or shine, but much better when it shines!

Haworth is about a two hour drive from where I grew up, and I used to go on a fairly-regular basis with my mother.

The actual Bronte Parsonage is fantastic, and has all of the tiny scraps of paper on which the children used to write their novellas…among many other dresses of Aunt Branwell, pieces of furniture etc.

We always do the walk to Top Withens, which is just great. It’s nothing special in itself but there is a real atmosphere when you remind yourself that this is (allegedly) the place Emily based ‘Wuthering Heights’ on. You can’t fail to see where her inspiration came from, when you’re out rambling on those wild expanses of moorland. Indescribable, especially to a Bronte Sister devotee such as myself.

Haworth itself is a very quaint, lovely little Yorkshire village. Close to Keighley, and there are divine little pubs in the surrounding countryside…perfect for a pint and a filling, traditional Yorkshire meal.

I’ve been wanting to visit this place ever since I read Jane Eyre and became obsessed with all things Bronte.

I came here for a weekend when I was at Oxford to see the Bronte museum and parsonage. It ended up being one of the best weekend trips we took. It was November, so it got dark very early… we stayed in an old manor house that had been turned into a youth hostel- we had a fireplace in our room. Since it was dark so early, we went out right after we got there to a Guy Fawkes bonfire. We met an older man who was the retired police constable, and he gave us his phone number and told us to call him from the call box outside the parish church the next day, because he wanted to show us around the church. In the morning we hiked across the moors to Top Withins, which was the inspiration for Wuthering Heights. The path goes past Bronte falls, and some other places where the Bronte sisters frequented. The parsonage museum was interesting- worth a visit. The graveyard outside is eerie- distenegrating headstones covered with moss. We called the man from the bonfire, and he showed up and said he was the official clock-winder for the clock in the tower of the church, so he took us up the tower and let us wind the clock (it was huge and old), and then up the rickety old ladder, past the bells, and to the top of the tower, where we had an amazing view of the countryside. He then took us to his house where his wife served us tea and biscuits. You can’t plan weekends like that!