A little taste of Haworth village
Our bricks and mortar shop is located in Haworth, West Yorkshire. It’s a beautiful place to live and work, and we love speaking to people in the shop who are visiting the area, drawn here for its natural beauty, literary history and village charms – some fellow Yorkshire people and some from much, much further afield.
The shop itself is at the bottom of Main Street. Main Street is the famous cobbled road that runs through the village and plays home to many independent shops, lovely cafes and eateries, holiday cottages and of course is home to lots of local residents. The street has been photographed and hashtagged many times over. It also takes centre stage in artwork of the local area (including my own colourful depictions), and has even featured on TV as part of recent Bronte dramas.
Main Street plays host to a number of exciting and rather interesting events each year. The last few Summers have seen the cycle race ‘Tour de Yorkshire’ whizz past the shop front before competitors tackle the cycle up the gruelling cobbled hill. The Tour de France came through Haworth in 2014 and ignited a local passion for cycling. These were epic days with an electric atmosphere which saw the village united in supporting the athletes on their journeys.
Other events that grace the village include the annual 1940’s weekend, a spectacular couple of days that sees the village transformed to a bygone era, complete with people in 1940’s dress, military vehicles, music, dancing, and quite often a flypast. It’s a very popular weekend that sees huge crowds descend on our little village. There’s also a 1960’s weekend, a steampunk weekend, Halloween and some wonderful festive events hosted in the run up to Christmas. It’s well worth checking out what events are coming soon and planning your next visit.
Away from the Main Street, Haworth has even more to offer. Its fame originates as it was home to the Bronte sisters – the trailblazing authors who penned the novels Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre (to name a few) from their home in the Parsonage. The Parsonage is open throughout the year and is well worth a visit to gain a greater understanding of what life must have been like in Haworth 200 years ago. You can also take a walk across the moors to visit the Bronte Waterfalls or Top Withens – a derelict farmhouse which some have suggested might have helped to inspire Wuthering Heights.
Our two young children are big rail enthusiasts, so having the steam train run through the village proves to be very stimulating for them! There aren’t many places that are able to boast its own steam railway – another quirk of Haworth. There’s a lovely old station that sits on the line connecting Haworth to Keighley and Oxenhope. The steam trains run regularly on a weekend and daily during the school holidays. Oxenhope engine shed, a little further down the line, is worth a visit too – it’s free to enter and you can get up close with some beautiful old steam trains and carriages.
There’s also a very nice park towards the bottom of Haworth Main Street, complete with children’s playground, bandstand, pretty flowerbeds and plenty of green space to run off energy or enjoy a picnic.
I hope this gives a feel for what’s available in Haworth. It’s a beautiful, friendly, warm (even when it’s wuthering!) and fun village with plenty for visitors to experience. It’s a privilege to live and have a business here and we hope that you’ll pop by soon.
Katie x
