If their books offer a view of love darker than Jane Austen’s, their lives fared far worse. While Austen struggled with writing and failed at love, the Brontes endured short, brutish lives and early deaths, with all but one never knowing their work was a success.

Their sweeping stories were penned in a two-story parish house surrounded by a graveyard in the bleak, claustrophobic village of Haworth in the Pennine moors of North West Yorkshire.

Most of the places that shaped the sad arc of the sisters’ lives are just steps apart in the tiny cobblestone center of Haworth. The Church of St. Michael dates from 1881, a replacement for the one where their father, the Rev. Patrick Bronte, took to the pulpit in the 1820s. Behind it is the tiny parish house ringed by gravestones that, as the novelist Mrs. Gaskell described it, were “round house and garden, on all sides but one.”

Tragedy was a staple of Bronte life in Haworth. The authors’ mother, Maria Bronte, and two eldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, died soon after the family arrived. Their passing was not deemed unusual in a time and place where many people did not live past age 30. Life in Haworth could be difficult, especially during the severe winters.

It was only many decades later that it was learned that the high mortality rate in Haworth was linked to poisonous runoff from the St. Michael’s graveyard into the town’s water wells. The church where all the Brontes except Anne are buried sits across from the Black Bull pub, where the sisters’ beloved brother, Branwell, was a regular. Branwell was the reverend’s lone son. He showed promise as a painter and was admitted to the London Academy. But he didn’t last in London and returned home to binge on booze and opium until he died in 1842.

The three sisters wrote at a time when it was difficult for women to get published. They submitted their joint collection of poems under the pseudonym of the Bell brothers — Acton, Currer and Ellis. Despite the gender ploy, the collection was a commercial flop. All changed with Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” published in 1847. Soon after, Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” was a success — the drunkard Hindley Earnshaw clearly inspired by her brother Bramwell. Anne wrote the mildly successful “Agnes Grey” before her best work, “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.” Success was literally short-lived. Charlotte could enjoy her success with “Jane Eyre,” but Emily died in 1848 before “Wuthering Heights” had received much acclaim. Anne died six months later. Charlotte wrote two more novels, “Shirley” and “Villette.” She struggled for more than two years to convince her father to let her marry the church curate in 1854. She was finally wed in 1854, only to die nine months later.

A small baby’s cap that she knitted for a family friend is on display at Bronte parsonage. It is all the more poignant because Charlotte was pregnant at the time of her death. The Bronte Parsonage with crows in nests overhead is now owned by the Bronte Society. The exhibits try to re-create the look and feel of a 19th-century parsonage.

Near Haworth is the Bronte Stone Chair, a smooth-topped boulder said to be where the young women liked to escape to read and write.
Visitors can cross Bronte Bridge and hike to Bronte Falls. Local tourist offices tout the 40-mile Bronte Way, which takes in locales drawn from the sister’s books. The ruined Top Withins is believed to be the setting for “Wuthering Heights,” while Ponden Hall was the model for Thrushcross Grange in the same book. Ferndean Manor in “Jane Eyre” is based on Wycoller Hall in nearby East Lancastershire. Fans flock to Cowan Bridge in the Yorkshire Dales, the inspiration for the dismal Lowood School in “Jane Eyre.”

On a starkly cold, sleet-driven winter day, Cowan Bridge is a long way — physically and spiritually — from the blooming love of a warm afternoon at Jane Austen’s imaginary Netherfield.

Follow the Heptonstall Trail (booklet available at shops, pubs & cafes in Heptonstall) to explore the Octagonal Methodist Church and Parish Church ruins.

Don’t miss the Heptonstall Museum in the Old Grammar School building, telling the story of the infamous Cragg Vale Coiners and Heptonstall’s part in the English Civil War.

Nearby ‘Weaver’s Square’ is a fine example of different types of Yorkshire paving, from cobbles to flagstones.

Hebden Bridge

Take a walk around Hebden Bridge, looking out for the “over and under dwellings”. Houses were built in terraces with 4 – 5 storeys because space was limited by the steep valleys and lack of flat land. The upper storeys face uphill while the lower ones face downhill with their back wall against the hillside, each with separate entrances.

Visit Hebden Bridge Library for some great lectures, open nights when authors read from their works, facilities and events for children. Upstairs you’ll see prints and information about the history of the area.

Take a look at the Hebden Diary, which you can pick up in cafes and shops for an insight into the massive range of activities that take place in Hebden Bridge.

Take a trip back through 700 years of history at Hebden Bridge Mill, a splendid example of a water powered Pennine mill, built in local gritstone. Enjoy a drink in the cafe and see the waterwheel. The three and a half tonne 14 ft diameter waterwheel was hand crafted locally in cast iron, elm and oak.

Holmfirth

Explore the alleyways of Holmfirth. Can you find the old gaol in Holmfirth, hidden round the back of Daisy Lane cobbles and known as ‘Ow’d towser’? It opens once a year as part of the Heritage Open Weekend.

Take a trip around the villages of Hepworth, Honley and Upperthong near Holmfirth. Bill Owen, who played Compo in the BBC comedy Last of the Summer Wine, is buried at St. Johns in Upperthong. Upperthong hosts the World Welly Wanging Championships each year at the Village Gala on the last weekend in June.

Join Sue Clay, textile designer and feltmaker, on a workshop in her Holmfirth Studio.

Wander around Holmfirth’s cobbled streets such, as Bunker’s Hill and Rattle Row, and see the mullioned windows of weaver’s cottages.

Rest in flower-filled Holmfirth Memorial Gardens whilst listening to one of our local brass bands; Hepworth, Holme Silver or the famous Hade Edge Band, on a sunny summer Sunday.

Enjoy a night to remember at The Picturedrome! Live concerts nearly every weekend from old favourites like Steve Harley, Elkie Brooks and Nik Kershaw.

Haworth

Take a picnic from one of the shops in Haworth, such as the Cheese Place, and stride out over Haworth Moor to absorb the atmosphere of the ruins of Top Withens Farm, the inspiration for Wuthering Heights.

Take a trip down memory lane, exploring Haworth’s many shops with a vintage and antiques theme – try Oh La La, the Piano’s Not For Sale, Mrs. Beighton’s Sweets, Holmes Antiques, Venables and Bainbridge Books and Hatchards & Daughters.

The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

Book a place on one of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway’s Pullman Dining trains, where you can enjoy a 6 course dinner on a 1930s or 1950s train.

Take a trip on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railways to Oakworth Station to get a real feel for the atmosphere captured in the film of the Railway Children. Friendly volunteers will show you the various historical features in the station and you can even buy an old-fashioned ticket to keep as a souvenir.

Walking

Climb up Stoodley Pike between Hebden Bridge and Todmorden for expansive views of beautiful countryside and wooded areas – take a torch to help you see as you walk up the steps. This 121 foot high monument is visible from miles around.

Marsden Moor Estate includes 6000 acres of open moor with a wealth of industrial archaeological remains. Public footpaths and the Pennine Way give easy access to many unspoilt valleys, reservoirs, peaks and crags.

Enjoy the spectacular incredible 360 degree views over much of Marsden Moor from Pule Hill, Marsden, an impressive rocky outcrop. See a fantastic sunset at Wessenden near Marsden, a wild and remote valley looking down across Blakeley and Butterley reservoirs.

Explore Hardcastle Crags with its 400 acres of unspoilt woodland. Gibson Mill, a 19th Century former cotton mill, is located at the heart of the Crags.

Action Sports

Enjoy water sports, walking, orienteering and bird watching at Scammonden, surrounded by the rugged grandeur of the Pennines.

Try one of MTB Cycle’s 2 day “Yorkshire Trails ’n’ Ales” guided rides. Follow one of Yorkshire’s natural trails and taste some of its finest ales, brewed by traditional micro breweries.

Take a look, not only inside Heart Gallery which occupies a former Baptist Chapel and has been sympathetically restored by its owner, but also in the grounds where ancient gravestones bear interesting inscriptions, including one about a gentleman being ‘cruelly murdered’.

Discover Pennine Yorkshire

As you travel around Pennine Yorkshire, look out for rows of weavers cottages which would once have had loom chambers on the top floor. You’ll recognise them from the long rows of upper floor windows to let in all available light.

See Pennine Yorkshire from a different perspective. Pennine Helis have several themed pleasure flights. On a 15 minute flight you can see Hebden Bridge, Scammonden Bridge crossing the M62, the Pennine Way, the Calder Valley, the Canal network and some wonderful Pennine moorlands. Get a bird’s eye view of Last of the Summer Wi

ne Country with ‘Compo’s Country Trail’ above Marsden, Slaithwaite, Marsden Moor, Meltham, the Holme Valley and Holmfirth itself.

Take a creative writing course at the Ted Hughes Arvon Centre. Lumb Bank, the 18th century mill owner’s house which once belonged to Ted Hughes, stands in acres of steep woodland close to Heptonstall near Hebden Bridge.

Join a breadmaking course at The Handmade Bakery in Slaithwaite.

Visit Colne Valley Museum to see the restored weavers’ cottages of 1845 with working hand looms, Spinning Jenny and a clogmakers’ workshop.