E X T E N S I O N THE BRONT COUNTRY Up on the wild Yorkshire Penistone Crags moors is a little village called Wuthering Heights The Heights Haworth, where the Bront sisters and their brother grew up, isolated from the world. Their old home now houses the Bront Parsonage Museum, Kirk which is a registered charity1 k c e and is responsible for conserving B Stone Signpost n r to me the Bront heritage2. Emily is m i G Lodge buried in the little churchyard beside it along with the rest of Door her family, except for Anne, Thrushcross Park who died in Scarborough. From here, if you put on a good pair Thrushcross of walking shoes, you can follow Plantation Grange in the footsteps of Emily s favourite walks, and see what inspired Wuthering Heights. It is about an eleven mile hike3, but it is worth the hard work, for when you stand with the wind blowing in your hair on the hill top among the ruins of an old farmhouse known locally as Top Withens , thought to have been the setting for Heathcliff s farm, you feel the power of the story. You pass the stone, The Bront chair , where Emily used to sit and write her stories and poetry, immersed in nature, and the Bront waterfall, a favourite spot of the sisters. A mile or so uphill, and you reach the large rock Ponden Kirk (Peniston Crags in the novel), where young Cathy wanted to go so much. Continue your walk and you come to another village, where you find the old manor house, Ponden Hall, presumed to be Thrushcross Grange . With the growth of tourism, hundreds of people visit this area for the beautiful scenery and walks, and to see what inspired an inexperienced young girl to write such a story. It is an emotional experience to visit the Bront country. 1. registered charity: an officially recognized organization which helps a good cause or people in need. 2. heritage: historically important traditions, languages or buildings. 3. hike: a long walk in the country. 33 Gimmerton