The Bronte Sisters painted by Branwell Bronte

Last weekend as part of a Country Living travel article on Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire (look out for this in the upcoming February 13 issue), I visited the Parsonage at Howarth, the famous home of the Brontës.

Howarth

Set below the bleak, brooding, windswept moors, this part of Yorkshire is very unspoilt. Much of old Howarth, with its dark stone houses and pretty streets laid with gritstone sets, remains virtually as it would have been in the early 19th-century.

The Parsonage Museum from Howarth churchyard

The Parsonage Museum (home to the Brontë family between 1820 and 1861) has been beautifully restored and is charged with atmosphere. Filled with original furnishings and family possessions, such as the miniature books they wrote as children. And it is easy to image the sisters pacing around the parlour table, reciting their stories and poems by lamplight into the night, or, indeed, be touched by the air of melancholy that surrounds this talented and tragic family.

The Children’s Study, The Parsonage Museum

If you are in the mood for a blustery walk, cross the moors from here to Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse, and the supposed setting for Wuthering Heights, which has wonderful views.Inspired, I have vowed to read Wuthering Heights at last!

Meantime here is a timely poem.

 ‘Fall, leaves, fall’

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.

Emily Jane Brontë

The Parsonage Museum is open almost all year (closed January), and hosts special events and contemporary art exhibitions. Call/visit (01535 642323; www.bronte.org.uk)