My long-suffering husband John was kind enough to take me to Haworth today (hard to drive with a sprained ankle!) I have loved this place since my dear friend Claire got me into the Brontës when we were 8 years old!
There is something special about visiting the home of someone famous. Walking the floors where they once trod, seeing the views from the windows as they did, seeing their furniture and belongings, and faithful recreations of the rooms as they knew them where possible, somehow brings them closer and makes them real. The Brontë Society, who own and run the Brontë Parsonage Museum, have achieved this in spades. For instance, look at the photo below: how many times would the family have opened their door and seen this view (with the garden perhaps a little more productive with fruit bushes)? Welcoming guests, going out to church (the raised stone in the wall marks the site of their gate into the churchyard), visiting parishioners… their daily lives were lived here!
Here is a taste of the Parsonage interior. The rooms are mostly as the Brontës knew them, with as many of their possessions as possible in each.
I hope this post has given a little insight into the family’s everyday life. I have only included photos of the rooms which look something like they might have done while the Brontës lived there: some, such as the kitchen, were radically altered by the next incumbent and some are now used to exhibit items.