How to Visit The Bronte Sisters Village: 1 Day in Haworth

Do you love the work of the Bronte sisters or have you seen a Bronte Sisters movie?

This guide delves into exactly what you can see and do at the Bronte sisters’ village, including top tips for visiting the Bronte Parsonage Museum, the church where Patrick Bronte was the parson, and the churchyard where you can still see the Bronte sisters’ gravestones. It’s the perfect place to discover the story of the Bronte sisters.

In addition, you’ll discover where to walk on the wild moors that provided so much inspiration for the Brontë sisters books and exactly where to find the best afternoon tea in Howarth Village too.  

If you’re looking for other places to explore in Yorkshire, you may also enjoy:

• Top 5 Things You Should See When Visiting Fountains Abbey
• All You Need To Know To Visit Spurn Point – Yorkshire’s Amazing “Land’s End”
• The 20 Most Beautiful Towns in Yorkshire

If you’ve ever wondered “where did the Bronte sisters live in Yorkshire or “How many Bronte sisters were there?”, you will love exploring the quaint and beautiful village of Haworth in rural West Yorkshire where the Bronte family lived, and all of the sisters were buried (except Anne Bronte).

Where is Haworth Village?

Deep in the heart of rural West Yorkshire, Haworth Village is tucked away almost 10 miles away from the busy West Yorkshire city of Bradford. When you drive to Haworth through the undulating Yorkshire Dales, the scenery transports you straight to Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. You’ll half expect to see Heathcliff striding across the moors!

The best way to get to the Bronte Parsonage

The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway runs fabulous steam trains between Keighley railway station and Haworth railway station at weekends and bank holidays, with daily services in summer. (01535 647777).

• Nearest main railway station: Leeds
• Nearest local railway station: Keighley.

When the train whistle blows in the distance, there’s a palpable sense of excited anticipation, before the distant chuff-chuff-chuff sound heralds the approach of a gleaming steam train.    

Fun fact: In 1970 the Keighley & Worth Valley line was featured in the iconic British film The Railway Children

A dedicated group of volunteers and enthusiasts run the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, maintaining the steam engines, carriages, and track. The railway is a credit to them and a joy to experience. The 1940s carriages and steam engines evoke a rush of nostalgia, perfect for visiting the very quaint village of Haworth.  

Other ways to get to Haworth

By Car
Haworth is located in West Yorkshire, eight miles west of the city of Bradford and three miles south of Keighley. The village is about one hour from Leeds via the M621 and M62, and 90 minutes from Manchester via the M66.

• West Lane Car Park is next to the Museum – Nearest Post Code BD22 8DU
• Bronte Village Coach and Car Park – Nearest Post Code BD22 8QN
• Haworth Central Car Park – nearest postcode BD22 8DG

The Bronte Parsonage Museum doesn’t have a dedicated car park, but there are 3 pay and display car parks in Haworth Village.

By Bus
Regular bus services run to Haworth from Bradford Interchange, Keighley bus station and Hebden Bridge railway station, including “Bronte Bus” services from Keighley. Find more information here. 

Getting from Haworth Station to the Bronte Parsonage  

The 16-minute walk to Haworth Village is almost all uphill. It’s very steep and cobble-stoned, and it’s sure to give you a proper workout!

The loveliest route is through the attractive, well-maintained Central Park – it also takes you straight to the lower end of Main Street, and past the very pretty Old Registry guest house.

On the walk up the main street, most people seem to pause to take photos of the achingly pretty houses, shops, and coffee houses. Or maybe they just need to draw breath.  

The Dark History of Haworth Village

In the early 19th century, Haworth village was a disease-ridden, impoverished and unsanitary place. Life expectancy was only 24. All five of the Bronte sisters plus their brother Branwell died before the age of 40.  

At least forty thousand people are buried in the graveyard opposite the Bronte Parsonage. These graves were at the top of a hill, with inadequate drainage, so runoff from the graveyard seeped into local wells and streams, infecting the supply of drinking water!

In 1859, Queen Victoria ordered the closure of the Haworth cemetery for new burials.  

Imagine the relief of escaping from the festering village to the fresh air of the Yorkshire Moors!  It’s not surprising that Charlotte, Emily, and Anne enjoyed their bracing walks on the moors so much.

How to Visit the Bronte Parsonage Museum

The Bronte Parsonage is tucked away behind the church where the Bronte sisters worshipped and where their father Patrick Bronte was the parson. It’s well signposted and easy to find.

In the 1920s, a generous benefactor bought the Parsonage and turned it into a museum – an absolute treat for real fans of the Bronte sisters.

Every year, around eighty thousand fans of the Bronte sisters make the pilgrimage to the Bronte house, wanting to see the environment that inspired masterpieces including Wuthering Heights, Villette, and Jane Eyre.

Moments away from bleak, windswept moorland, the plain Yorkshire stone parsonage sits atop the village, next to the church of St Michael and All Angels and the gloomy graveyard. The stark frontage of the house, thick stone floors, and draughty windows made me shiver, even on a summer’s day. It’s quite a forbidding place.  

While modest in size, the dark and gloomy rooms speak volumes of how the Bronte family lived. You can see the perfectly preserved elegant writing desks where the sisters penned their novels and poetry, and the sofa where Charlotte Bronte died.  

About the Bronte Sisters and family

In 1820 the Reverend Patrick Bronte was appointed as Curate of Haworth, and he moved to Haworth with his wife, Maria, his five daughters, and his son Branwell. Tragically, Maria died just one year later.

Life was harsh for the Bronte sisters. Their father was not wealthy and there was little money to pay servants. Household chores fell to the sisters, as in those times, neither brother nor father would have been expected to do “women’s work”!  

What was school like for the Bronte Sisters?

In early 1824, sisters Maria and Elizabeth Bronte, aged just eleven and nine years old, were sent away to boarding school, with two of their younger sisters, Charlotte and Emily, joining them later that year.

The Clergy Daughter’s School at Cowan Bridge was a vile, cold and unsanitary place with appalling food. Charlotte Bronte was inspired to write Jane Eyre after the cruelty she and her young sisters suffered at Cowan Bridge, which she used as a model for Lowood School.

Only months after arriving at school, Maria became seriously ill. The school sent her home where she died from tuberculosis. Within months, Elizabeth also died from the same terrible disease, known at the time as “consumption”.

Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte was the only one of the Bronte sisters to marry. Her bedroom is full of trinkets and memorabilia from her life, including her writing slope and her watercolours.

One display reveals a tiny pair of thin cotton shoes that would have been no barrier against the cold floors of the Parsonage. There’s also a plain cotton dress worn by Charlotte on her honeymoon.

Only a year after her marriage and while in the early stages of pregnancy, Charlotte Bronte also died from tuberculosis, aged just 38.  

Branwell Bronte

Patrick and Maria Bronte had just one son, Branwell, who was home tutored by his father. A tortured soul, he descended into drug addiction and alcoholism, before dying from tuberculosis at the age of 31.

His small room is dark and gloomy, littered with portraits, scribbles, half-finished sketches and discarded clothes. All it needed was a few pizza boxes and pairs of trainers, and it could have been a modern teenage boy’s man cave.  

Parson Bronte

Patrick Bronte’s room must have been a sad and lonely place. Can you imagine living on in the house where your wife and five of your six children died?

The whole house is a treasure trove for Bronte fans. There are lots of original paintings and drawings too, some by Branwell, others by the accomplished sisters themselves. Charlotte Bronte’s watercolours of flowers are very reminiscent of the “Country Diary of an Edwardian lady”.  

The Works of the Bronte Sisters

All of the Bronte sisters’ novels were originally published under a pseudonym, as it wasn’t considered “proper” at the time for a woman to be an author!

• Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette published under the name of Currer Bell
• Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights published under the pen name of Ellis Bell
• Ann Bronte – Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall were published under the pseudonym of Acton Bell

The three sisters also published a book of poetry, under their pen names.

The Death of Emily and Ann Bronte

Emily and Anne also died from tuberculosis, however, they both survived into early adulthood and became successful novelists. Anne Bronte was the only one of the Bronte sisters who did not die in Haworth – she died and was buried alone in Scarborough. All of the other Bronte sisters and Branwell are buried alongside their mother in the family crypt, moments from the Parsonage.  

Beyond Haworth

The Bronte sisters’ writing drew on experiences from their Yorkshire home, and the local area.

Top Withens

According to local lore, the desolate ruin high up on bleak moorland at Top Withens was Emily Bronte’s inspiration for Earnshaw’s farmhouse in Wuthering Heights.

The landscape today is very different to how it was two hundred years ago. Then, Yorkshire was in the throes of the Industrial Revolution, and ugly coal mines, mills, belching chimneys and workers’ cottages scarred the horizon.

Today, nature has reclaimed this wild and windswept land. All that remains is the well-worn track to Howarth from Top Withens; the same path that mill workers would have taken to church.

The hard, inhospitable countryside lies silent now, except for the haunting cry of curlews, the bleating of sheep, and the creak and rustle of trees. It’s bleak, wild, and quite wonderful.  

Bronte Waterfall

This favourite spot of the Bronte sisters is just a few miles from the village of Howarth. It’s a pleasant walk, then a bit of a scramble up to see the small, but pretty waterfall. It’s somewhere for walking shoes, not sandals.

Can you picture how hard it would have been for the sisters to visit the waterfall, wearing their long skirts?

Oxenhope Village

The tiny village of Oxenhope has Bronte links too. Charlotte Bronte fell for her father’s curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls, but Patrick did not approve of the match as Arthur was poor. The two lovers met secretly on the path to Oxenhope!      

You can find more information about the Bronte sisters and their family, at the Bronte Society website here.

Explore Howarth Village

Today Howarth is a thriving hotspot for tourists, lured by the Brontë heritage. On Main Street, you’ll see the Villette Coffee House and Brontë Tea Rooms. Even the “Bronte bus” that trundles back and forth to Oxenhope is called Charlotte!  

In 2002, Howarth won the prestigious accolade of the World’s First Fairtrade Village.  

Pro Tip: Some of the shops and places to eat in Howarth only take payment in cash, because the WIFI in the area is poor. Make sure you visit an ATM before you head for the shops or for something to eat!

Where to Eat in Howarth

Afternoon tea at the utterly fabulous 10 the Coffee House, run by Claire Barton and her welcoming team is very good. Located at the bottom end of Main Street, the coffee shop is cosy and stylish, with plenty of room to relax. It’s a proper, leisurely experience, and a real treat after that hill! What a find!

We had half-and-half sandwiches – two dainty fingers of smoked salmon on brown and two of the most scrumptious egg mayonnaise fingers on the softest white bread (naughty but oh so nice). Plus a pot of Darjeeling tea from the extensive tea and coffee menu. And of course, there was cake!

I love to bake, but Claire’s cakes are out of this world! You have to try the soft strawberry and cream sponge or the tart, tangy lime cake. Yummy. I’m not sure I’d fill up on Claire’s cakes before attempting the climb up the hill to the Bronte Parsonage though.

Pro Tip: Can’t decide which cake to have? Ask for half and half portions! Two delicious cakes to try, in half-sized slices. Inspired!

Where to shop in Haworth – Following in the Footsteps of the Bronte Sisters

Shops in Haworth are independent, quirky, and worthy of a good browse!

The Cabinet Of Curiosities is a glorious place to snoop and explore. In the time of the Bronte sister, this was the apothecary’s store, and the shopfront is little changed from that time.

If you have a sweet tooth, Mrs Beighton’s Sweet Shop is a traditional sweet shop that will tempt you in, and the smell of chocolate is sure to lure any chocoholic into the supremely indulgent chocolate shop ….And Chocolate of Haworth.

Where to Stay in Haworth Village

The Old Registry is right in the middle of the village on the famous cobbled Main Street. You’ll find top-quality service here; some rooms even have four-poster beds and whirlpool baths. There’s also an imaginative Yorkshire menu, using excellent, local produce and a very acceptable wine list.

The Rookery Nook and Brontë Parsonage is located opposite the Bronte’s church. You couldn’t get closer to the real Bronte experience than this beautiful, quaint little apartment, which has a 10/10 rating on TripAdvisor!

Accessibility

Haworth isn’t brilliant for visitors with accessibility needs. Here’s why:

• The walk up from Haworth Station to the village and onward to the Bronte Museum is very steep and cobble-stoned. In wet conditions, the cobbles are quite slippery!
• The Bronte Parsonage is absolutely lovely to visit, but it’s a listed Georgian property with lots of stairs and no ramps or wheelchair access. There’s no wheelchair access to the first (upper) floor, but the museum itself is wheelchair accessible.

Places to Visit Near Haworth

• Harewood House (A Downton Abbey movie location)
• The Medieval City of York (Perfect for Harry Potter Fans, History Buffs and Foodies)
• The Vibrant City of Leeds (Packed with Victorian Architecture, Incredible Markets and Great Food)

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What do you think?

Did you like this article? Have I left out anything special about Haworth? Do you have any questions or suggestions for more lovely literary places to visit? Do leave a comment below.

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