A Trip: Bronte Parsonage Museum, Haworth, North Yorkshire, England

A Visit to the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, England.

In March of this year on one of our trips to England, we visited the Bronte Parsonage Museum located in the little village of Haworth, in the North Yorkshire Moors. I am finally sharing them with you in hopes that you will enjoy a vicarious trip to the UK. I also hope that since the pictures are cool in nature, perhaps they will be soothing for the hotter days of our Northern hemisphere’s summer that many of us are experiencing.

Some of you may be aware that John (my husband) is from North Yorkshire, England. Because of this we try and visit as much as we can to see our large family there. But it generally works out to once a year, or twice if we are lucky. As a rule, on our visits we try to go some places other than Skipton (the ancient market town where John’s family lives, and where we stay), since we enjoy seeing the sights even though I’ve traveled with John there many times over the years and he lived there for many years. Haworth, which is located near Skipton, is a tiny old town. You can get a feel for it from the handful of pictures that John took on our trip which I’ve added to the post. 

Another reason we visited the museum is that I absolutely loved two of the Bronte sisters’ books – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I designated the books a 5 and 4.5 star rating - respectively. Below you can link to my reviews for the books. Each review post contains some additional information on England and pictures of the North Yorkshire Dales – just in case you’re interested.

• Review of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
• Review of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

We find it interesting that I absolutely loved these two books since the authors only lived approximately 12 miles (albeit 150 years earlier) from where John grew up and lived for many years.

Now for some picture descriptions. The very top photo was taken in the main part of the village after we had eaten some “dinner” (as the Brits call it and what the US terms as lunch), where we decided on traditional English fare to keep in the theme of our visit. We had “pie and peas” with gravy and a hot pot of tea. I liked the top picture for the post because it has that old fashioned iconic red telephone booth that is still used in some remote areas of England as well as the classic signpost which labels the directions to the Parsonage.

As you can see, since it was March the deciduous plants and trees were just beginning to bloom with their small budding leaves, but mostly the trees were bare. There is also the typical chill in the air from the mist on the moors that enveloped the village. It definitely was a damp and cold day. I had several layers on as well as a scarf, gloves, and a wool sweater-coat. You don’t realize how very cold it is until you step out of a warm buildings or heated car into the drippy air.

To the left you can see me standing in the front garden to the Parsonage where the Brontes lived and created their famous novels. We were able to tour inside with its very small rooms that were decorated with period furniture which included a few old fashioned possessions from the inhabitants.

Below you can see the graveyard that is located over the household’s garden wall. Isn’t the mist around all of the headstones very atmospheric? If you have read any of the Brontes’ work you will recognize some of the descriptions by the authors - including the weather.

Inside the graveyard are the actual Bronte graves. John took a picture of the plaque showing where each grave is located, which helps tourists find them, as well as more misty pictures from the cemetery.

And below you can see the other features of the town like the walkways, church and houses that are common in the villages in the hilly, green, sheep-dotted and stone-walled countryside.

Also, of course, there’s a picture of me - sitting on a stone bench with primroses decorating the side walk. It is quintessential North Yorkshire.

If you ever have a chance to visit England and love the writing of the Brontes, we strongly recommend visiting the Bronte Parsonage Museum. For more information and to get small glimpses of inside the lovely parsonage, visit the Museum’s website: http://www.bronte.org.uk/

Also for more posts that contain information about our travels around England here on Layers of Thought link on the tag listing below: http://www.layersofthought.net/search/label/England