On the trail of Emily Brontë: 10 places to celebrate the bicentenary of her birth

On the 200th anniversary of Emily Brontë's birth, we highlight the celebrations taking place on the ‘Wuthering Heights’ author’s home turf.

1. Lily Cole and Maxine Peake celebrate Brontë 

Brontë 200 is tied to the Brontë Parsonage Museum (bronte.org.uk) in Haworth, West Yorks, where the sisters lived – and where Wuthering Heights was written. The centrepiece for 2018 is Making Thunder Roar – an exhibition (until Jan 1) that sees voices of the present (model Lily Cole, actress Maxine Peake) pay tribute to Emily (free with £8.50 museum entry).

2.  Brontë 200 bonanza

It has long been considered rude to ask a woman’s age – more so when the lady in focus has already been through the inconvenience of dying of tuberculosis. Still, exceptions can be made – and today marks the 200th birthday of Emily Brontë, the second eldest of the authorly sisters, and creator of Wuthering Heights. This will resharpen the cultural bonanza that is Brontë 200, a five-year programme celebrating these literary icons (it began with Charlotte’s double-ton moment in 2016 and will finish with Anne’s in 2020). Details at bronte.org.uk/bronte-200.

3. Women's writing festival 

While the meat of Brontë 200 is at the Parsonage Museum, the festival casts its net into other locations. Such as Ponden Hall, a three-room country hotel in Stanbury (ponden-hall.co.uk; double rooms from £95). This will be the scene of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Festival over the weekend of Sept 22-23. Four different tuition sessions with professional authors are on offer, from £25 a head.

4. A walk through Brontë's novels

The Brontës set their novels in the countryside around them. Which is why the Brontë Way (bronte-country.com/bronte-way.html) connects many pertinent places as it wends 43 miles from Birstall to Padiham. It takes four days to walk it, but the reward for those who do is the sight of Top Withens, the ruined farmhouse on which Emily reputedly based Wuthering Heights, the tortured Heathcliff’s gloomy abode.

5. Kate Bush's Brontë tribute 

Kate Bush should buy Emily Brontë a drink. Wuthering Heights was the inspiration for (and the name of) the singer’s iconic debut single in 1978. Still, it’s hard to buy a pinot grigio for a 19th-century genius, so Bush has done the next best thing. She has contributed a piece of prose to The Brontë Stones – a project devised by the Bradford Literature Festival (bradfordlitfest.co.uk/the-bronte-stones) which, this month, has seen slabs, engraved with wise words in tribute to the Brontës, laid between Haworth and the sisters’ birthplace, the village of Thornton. You can stroll the route for eight miles.

6. Guided hikes in Brontë Country

For those who want the turbulence of Wuthering Heights to leap from the page, there is always Brontë Walks – a Yorkshire specialist (brontewalks.co.uk) which runs guided hikes in Brontë Country. These include a 12-mile, eight-hour epic from Haworth to Hebden Bridge (via Top Withens) from £46pp.

7. Cycling breaks

At no point in Wuthering Heights does Heathcliff don Lycra and talk to Catherine about derailleur gears. Still, the Yorkshire landscape has proved itself wholly suitable for bicycle breaks. Yorkshire Velo Tours organises two-night cycling weekends for £220 per person – including hotel accommodation in Ilkley (yorkshirevelotours.com).

8. A country house escape

Just because Heathcliff lived darkly on the moor, it doesn’t mean you need to as well. The proof being Ashmount Country House, a luxury retreat in Haworth (ashmounthaworth.co.uk) which proffers four-poster beds, afternoon teas, rooms from £79 a night with breakfast, and hot tubs. Hot tubs in Brontë Country? Yes. Relax, it’s fine.

9. A reading retreat 

Surely the best salute to Emily Brontë is to sit down with her masterpiece and read it in its true setting? Fair enough. In which case, head to Weavers Loft – one of three cottages converted from a barn once owned by the Brontës, near the village of Cowling. It sleeps two, and costs from £275 per week through yorkshireholidaycottages.co.uk.

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10. Wycoller Country Park

Every parent knows that if you pay too much attention to one child on their birthday, their sibling will throw a tantrum. So we’d better give some love to Charlotte too. Maybe on a trip to Wycoller Country Park (see friendsofwycoller.co.uk), which holds the remnants of Wycoller Hall, her model for Ferndean Manor in Jane Eyre.