On Wuthering Heights

| The moors of the Brontës. |

England Trip 2015 Travel Journal
Sunday, March 29 – Part Two

We decided to head to Haworth and Brontë country so we wouldn't get to the museum too late, and visit the North & South filming location afterward. I have never seen a country or surroundings whose mood and feel is so reflected in the stories of any writer! I have never read Wuthering Heights, but I have read Jane Eyre and I am familiar with the passion and gothic-like moods of these novels, and the wild hills covered in dark heather, the bare black trees, the clouds blowing dramatically overhead and the blasting wind almost blowing you down – moaning and whistling through the trees and over the hills – make it unmistakable that this landscape was an influence on the Brontë sisters.
They couldn't escape writing the way they did!

The Village of Haworth.

Looking across the moor to the Brontë parsonage.

Walking around the Brontë Parsonage museum made me sad, since so many of the family died young, and died in those very rooms. The struggle and near-darkness in the passions of the stories added to my feeling of sadness. It is quite a contrast from Chawton Cottage.

Looking over the graveyard to the parsonage.

My sneaky picture of the room where the Brontë sisters used to write together.

The drawing room is where Anne, Emily and Charlotte would stay up late and write together. Their writing desks, one of Charlotte's dresses and her wedding bonnet are spread out for us to see in different rooms. It was unreal to see those! She was quite little, too.

We then went for a walk to try to find a nearby moor, but after being pelted with some hail and the moor being nowhere in sight we went back to attempt another path through the cemetery. This was more successful in finding something at least moor-like and a place with a spectacular view.

Facing the hail, with the parsonage behind us.

The path up to the hills.

The moors!

We were very cold and a bit damp, but it was worth it! The sun was breaking through the clouds and the wind – It was blowing so hard that it felt like someone had a sheet wrapped around me and was pulling me backward! Not to mention that my hand would go numb if I took my glove off for a few seconds. Nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves immensely! As well as getting some fabulous pictures.

We walked through the heather, feeling very much like Jane Eyre as she ran away from Thornfield. While we trekked the path up to the heather the wind literally rushing over our heads made me either want to cower in fear or rush on to meet it, defying its worst! So I ran up the last stretch. :)

The famous moor heather.

I said it was windy... :)

We still had daylight left, so we headed to Keighley. You know how you have a sort of idea in your head of what a film location actually looks like? Well, that idea is always wrong – at least in my experience – which usually makes them hard to find.

But not in this case. Those green mill doors were unmistakable!

The gates of Dalton Mill, used as Malborough Mills in BBC's North & South

I literally gasped. And the place was completely deserted, which was perfect for sneaking some pictures.

"Look back. Look back at me."

It's Malborough Mills!! Alas, there was no Mr. Thornton...

It's a business complex now, with different companies in various building, but it is still very much a mill. It was technically once Dalton Mill, but to me it was Malbrough Mills. Mrs. Thornton's window, Mr. Thornton's steps, Margaret's visits – every place was there. I was actually brave enough to climb the steps to pose – but there was no one driving off to whom I could whisper "look back at me..." ;)

Talk about being transported! All we were missing was Richard Armitage. I had to stand in the spot where Mr. Thornton says one of my favorite lines to Margaret: "You're ill?" His concern for Margaret at that moment takes my breath away every time.

"I've not become so fine as to forget the source of my son's power and wealth. The Mill is everything." - Mrs. Thornton

Oddly, one of the most exciting parts of it all was after we had driven our car past the mill to leave and I saw a metal gate coming down, closing the complex! We had just made it. (That was at 7:00. We parked just around the corner in the neighborhood, by the way.)

Dinner and a fabulous Hob Nob ice cream sundae at the Carvery wound up the day in Keighley. (Hob Nobs are a sort of oat cookie with chocolate coating one side.) Carveries are wondrous places where you can get in line and ask for delicious meats (turkey, roast beef, ham), vegetables (potatoes, root veggies, Brussels sprouts), Yorkshire pudding and gravy to be piled onto your plate. It is one of the finest aspects of British cuisine.

Hob Nobs and ice cream!

It was just an unforgettable day! And one accompanied by the soundtracks of North & South and Jane Eyre. :)


© 2016 Anna Morton