Bronte’s, Black Cats and Vistorians in Haworth.

The Parsonage in Haworth was the home of the Bronte’s.

Today we spent a couple of hours walking round the cobbled streets of Haworth. I love visiting though its been a couple of years. On previous occasions it has usually been very bleak and windy up there but today the sun was shining. I actually managed to persuade the other half to take a tour of the parsonage with me. 🙂 The parsonage was of course the home of the Bronte family for many years. As children Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their brother Branwell lived, played, drew,wrote and wandered the moors here.

The Black Bull which Branwell Bronte often frequented.

Before the tour we had a wander round. There are some deliciously old’e world’y shops along the cobbled main street. Lotions and potions galore ( and beautiful vintage inspired tea dresses too ) in Rose & Co Apothecary and old fashioned toffees in Mrs Beightons Sweet Shop. 🙂 There are even a couple of vintage shops but unfortunately they were shut today. I pressed my nose to the glass with longing when I spied some beautiful teacups in the window of Kate’s Curiosities. sigh….

We also stopped for some lunch at Gascoigne’s Steam Brewing Company Cafe, Bar and Bistro. This is a micro brewery with its own bar and serves yummy grub too. I tried their speciality Pork Pie in mushy peas with mint sauce. Winter warming nosh !

The Bar in Gascoignes.

Pie and Peas.

Museum sign.

Before we went into the museum we had a little walk round the grave yard. The Bronte family themselves are all buried in the crypt ( except Anne who is buried in Scarbrough, where she died ) so there were no Bronte headstones. A rather large furry cat was prowling the cemetery and he was quite a character. Sorry i couldn’t resist taking photo’s. I decided to call him Heathcliffe !

It costs £7 to look round the Bronte museum in the Parsonage which I thought was well worth it as the ticket is actually valid for twelve months. You can reuse it within that time span as much as you like. Until 12th January there is actually a rather quirky exhibition on ( see photo above ) at the Museum. ‘Capturing The Brontes’ by Charlotte Cory is a fun and what she calls ‘Vistorian ‘ way of looking at the literary families lives in Haworth. Charlotte combines the use of vintage victorian calling cards and portraits of stuffed animals. Crazily kooky oil paintings of various ladies and gents superimposed with duck and fox heads are dotted round the various rooms and a giant stuffed giraffe graces the study. Apparently the Queen owns a Cory image of a Queen Corgi ! The exhibition continues at the Long and Ryle Gallery in London through February. Here is a very sneaky peek in Mr Brontes room. Feel a bit naughty as your not supposed to take photographs.

Getting away from the Vistoriana exhibition ,the museum is set out with lots of information about all the Bronte family and plenty of exhibits including a dress worn by Charlotte Bronte and water colours they painted and manuscripts they wrote. I loved reading about their pets. Emily’s beloved dog ‘Keeper’ pined for her years after her death.He was quite famous himself long before Greyfriar’s Bobby.

Here are a few more pictures taken in the grounds of the Parsonage. It was really such an honor to walk round the home of the authors of such masterpieces as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. 🙂

The Parsonage through the hips.

Vistorians in the window.

Statues of the Bronte sisters.

The Church in Haworth.

Before we left Haworth I had a hankering for baked goods so we indulged in spicy apple cake at the Cobble and Clay tearooms. :0)

Cobbles and Clay Tearooms.

I see Cobbles. 🙂

Nom Nom !

There’s all sorts going on in Haworth on the weekends running up to Christmas I noticed including a Victorian Christmas market ( 16th & 17th Nov), Steampunk Weekend ( 23rd &24th Nov) and Victorian weekend ( 7th & 8th Dec ) and lots more. Makes me want to visit all over again. 🙂