From the Canterbury Tales to Harry Potter, for centuries the United Kingdom’s rich literary history has been bringing the country to life for people who’ve never even set foot on its shores. Perhaps this is one reason why this small island, renowned for its miserable weather, still manages to rank among the top ten most visited countries in the world.
The small, countryside village of Haworth, once home to the famously literary Bronte sisters, is testament to this notion, pulling in around 8 million visitors a year. Here’s why you should pay it a visit.
The quaint countryside village of Haworth, England
Situated in the windswept Pennine hill range, which divides England’s northern counties, the historic village of Haworth is a quaint and picturesque place. Within striking distance of York , Leeds, Manchester and the stunning Lake District, Haworth Bronte Country makes an excellent day trip for anyone keen to delve deeper into the treasures of the English countryside and learn more about its literary past.
Haworth and the Bronte Sisters
What sets Haworth apart from your typical English village is its connection to the world-famous Bronte sisters (Emily, Charlotte and Anne), who between them wrote two of the best-loved English novels of all time, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Wandering the cobbled streets and gazing out over the rolling moorland that inspired these novels and their countless television and movie retellings is a fascinating experience and well worth the winding car journey up here.
The Bronte Parsonage Museum
But you don’t have to stop at gazing over the countryside and walking through the village imagining how the Bronte sisters may have lived; you can even enter the parsonage they called home, now the Bronte Parsonage Museum. It is in this house, located just behind the village church in which there father was clergyman, that the Bronte family lived from 1820 and 1861. The house remains today much as it did 150 years ago, with furniture, clothes and artefacts that once belonged to the family set out around the various rooms. There are also intriguing exhibitions which tell of the literary, artistic and family lives of the whole Bronte clan.
Enjoying the Englishness of Haworth Bronte Country
Regardless of its literary connections, Haworth makes for a great ‘British’ day out and it’s well worth spending some time poking around the village shops, admiring the old church and taking refuge in the pleasant pub or cafes, to stock up on delicious English staples of beer or tea and cakes, before you head off back to your hotel .
