A visit to Brontë Country

The name Brontë Country was given to a picturesque landscape in the Pennines, which is known for having been the location where several stories of the Brontë novels took place. The low mountain range in North England below the Scottish Borders is famous for its vast heathlands whose pink blossoms turn the Pennines into a dreamy rural mountain paradise during summer and early fall. The roughness of the rocky highland region combined with soft tones of tender flowers sets the stage for Brontë classics such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre with the Brontë birthplace in Thornton being just around the corner.

 

Those familiar with British literature very well know about the unique influence the Brontë sisters had on it during the Victorian era. In a time where female authors were struggling to gain recognition in their male dominated profession, they became a beacon of emancipation by self-publishing their work under male pseudonyms. Inspired by the landscapes of the Pennines, their novels should draw a more sensitive and emotionally deep picture of the Victorian society laying focus on the personal tragedies and class conflicts of their protagonists. 

A very tragic female figure of literature herself, namely Sylvia Plath, is buried in Heptonstall. Her story reminds us of the inner struggles many authors are facing until today and which equally are the strength of their creativity and lyrical greatness as well as hardest challenge to overcome. 

To wander the paths of the Brontë sisters in the Pennines holds some very special experiences for female writers in particular. From the Bride Stones near Todmorden over the valleys of Calderdale to the Kirklees forests on the Edge of Bradford, the landscape shapes the wanderer's imagination into a journey of self-reflection and muse...