We arrived in Haworth by steam train, travelling along the lovingly restored Keighley Valley Railway.
This is Haworth Station and the bridge in the distance is the footpath up into the village towards the Bronte Parsonage.
A steep cobbled path leads up through the main street, past tea rooms and vintage shops.
This was my favourite place in the village – The Cabinet of Curiosities, which is an apothecary shop.
Antique wooden cabinets lined the walls, and the little labelled drawers were full of eclectic bath items and loose talc powders.
At the top of the hill, you turn to the left, up a small residential street…
… past the church…
… and wonderful gardens …
… to the Bronte Parsonage.
This is where all three Bronte sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) lived with their brother, Bramwell, and their father, the Reverend Patrick Bronte. We chose this day to visit as it was the anniversary of Emily Bronte’s birthday (July 30th 1818).
The front room is where the sisters would sit together, and the museum has carefully set it up as if they are about to return and continue writing at any moment.
Preserved under glass is Emily’s writing desk. You can see “Emily Jane Bronte” inscribed on the brass plaque.
It is said that Emily Bronte made the family’s bread every morning (even on the day she died) … and here is the little stove where it would have been baked.
I loved how Bramwell’s room had messes of paper strewn about everywhere. He was a creative, though often tortured, genius and this less orderly room captures this perfectly. His writing tools are stored in ale jugs and smudged hand written pages have been thrown to the floor in frustration.
Back outside, this meadow has always been attached to the Parsonage, and the museum has simply mowed paths through the long grass, with benches where visitors can sit quietly and look out to the moors.
A footpath leads from the Parsonage up onto the moors and we hiked across the wild heather-covered hillside to get a full sense of the inspiration for Wuthering Heights. More on our countryside walk, the steam train journey and the vintage open top bus tour through the moors in a future post …
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