Bronte Country, West Yorkshire Pennines (Wednesday)

Haworth YHA

Main Street up to Parsonage

After a rainy morning in Stratford we set off north across some lovely countryside and headed up the A1(M) to West Yorkshire.  We had not made any advanced bookings for accomodation as we wanted to remain flexible so when we were confronted with the huge selection of YHA's we took pot luck and picked a place called Haworth which I hadn't heard of.  It's main attraction was it was fairly close to the Lake District where we were headed the next day. The next surprise was to discover that Haworth was at the heart of Bronte country and the town where the Bronte sisters grew up and lived with their father at the Parsonage.  A family that grew up with sorrow and loss.  Their mother and three of the six sisters all had premature deaths. Charlotte Bronte the last of the sisters married at 38 and died at 39 due to a toxic pregnancy.  She was a tiny lady only 4'10" tall.

Bronte country

We enjoyed an early evening walk which was the only flat walk available as it  turned out.  Haworth is in very hilly country and lends itself to some beautiful rugged countryside. Bronte Country is predominantly of Millstone Grit, a dark sandstone which lends the crags and scenery here an air of bleakness and desolation. Small wonder then, that this landscape fuelled the imagination of the Bronte sisters in writing their classic novels - including "Wuthering Heights" (which was reputedly inspired by the isolated moorland farmstead of Top Withens) and "Jane Eyre".


Next morning we made our way by car to the Bronte Parsonage Museum and is very well preserved. It still retains the atmosphere of what would have been a very loving home.  I loved this quote from the museum:

I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after,

and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, 

like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.

Emily Bronte

Debbie had gleaned some local information and discovered there was an original steam train that had a regular run to Keighly and was a popular tourist attraction so naturally we had to do that too which was great fun. We caught a veteran bus back for the last part of the journey and saw in the distance Haworth was also the town where the Railway Children was filmed years ago and there is a small museum which records the making of the TV series in the Railway Museum.

All in all Haworth proved to be a great place to visit and stay.....highly recommended!