Friday 27 April 2018

A Trip North

So,this weekend I got to visit one of my  oldest and dearest friends, and her family. They live near to Manchester, and on Saturday, we decided to take a trip into Yorkshire and visit Haworth, famous for being the home of the Brontë family


It's a beautiful town, lots of very steep, cobbled streets, independent shops and views out over the moors and hills.

The Rev. Patrick Brontë was perpetual curate at Haworth, and the Parsonage is now a museum, dedicated to the family.

Haworth Parsonage
We visited it - it's very interesting. Several of the rooms have been furnished to show how they would have been when the Brontës were living there, including in some cases with some of the original furnishings, and with the walls painted or papered as they were (in at least one case, with wall paper having been printed specially after reconstructing it from a small sample!) 

Dining Room - the table is original, and the wallpaper reproduced
to match the paper Charlotte chose in 1850

The museum also has some personal artefacts (mostly belonging to Charlotte, who was the last survivor, and who became famous in her own life-time resulting in more of her possessions being kept). These included Charlotte's wedding bonnet, as well as her writing desk, Emily's sampler, and some letters. 

There was also a (reproduction) of Bramwell's room (I think this was based on props created for the BBC drama 'To walk Invisible', much of which was filmed here on location) - chaotic and intriguing!

It's also very poignant, particularly the reminders that the  Brontës had 6 children, and that Patrick Bronte outlived them all, seeing two daughters die within weeks of each other, aged 10 and 11, and then, later, Bramwell, Anne and Emily, with Charlotte left alone for another 6 years.

While J and I were visiting the museum, the other half of the party went to the Keighley & Worth Railway and took a ride on a steam train. (I suspect this was more fun for a 3 year old than a literary site would have been!) 


We got down to the station just in time to meet them after their trip, and to watch the train pull out of the station. 

After which we found a nice cafe  and then did a little (mostly window) shopping, before heading back.

It was a beautiful day, and lots of fun.

Sunday was greyer and quieter, and I got to hang out with my friends and their son, before driving home. It was a fun weekend.

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