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The Jewish Chronicle

England: Take a trip to Heathcliff country

We explore gorgeous countryside and a Bronte family fest.

September 2, 2009 13:04
Rugged and romantic: a stream near the Bronte Falls in West Yorkshire

ByAnthea Gerrie, Anthea Gerrie

4 min read

Last weekend’s plush ITV production of Wuthering Heights gorgeously showcased Bronte Country, a wild, dramatic and rather secretive corner of West Yorkshire. For those who have never been, consider spending a few golden autumn days in this austerely beautiful and culturally rich slice of England before the public descend en masse.

The great British public, that is, since the Japanese have already indulged a decades-long obsession with Haworth, where the Bronte sisters grew up.

The appetites of Brontephiles everywhere have been whetted by the local mysteries surrounding Emily, whose book has been voted the world’s greatest romantic novel. It’s believed the manuscript of Wuthering Heights lies buried in Haworth churchyard, and that under the parsonage lie buried fragments of the secret second novel Emily was said to be writing before her untimely death at 30. Haworth itself would be a gorgeous place to visit even if it wasn’t the site of the Bronte home and parsonage. A cobbled street lined with old-fashioned sweetshops, boutiques and a Victorian apothecary recalls the famous Hovis ad, and the Black Bull where Branwell Bronte drank himself to death is still there, and still has the chair where young Bronte sat for hours in an opium stupor.

But today the apothecary sells toiletries instead of opium, and the Parsonage collection focuses on Branwell’s talented early days. Throughout the 1820s he and his sisters scribbled stories furiously in tiny notebooks. The notebooks, the children’s drawings and Branwell’s portrait of Emily, Jane and Anne Bronte — who all published their novels under male pen-names — are among the treasures in this beautifully-preserved home museum. Costumes for the new Wuthering Heights production are the newest attractions.