Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is my favourite novel. Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is perhaps a close second. That probably says a lot more about me than it should.

Last Thursday I went on my second visit to the Bronte family home in Haworth, Yorkshire. There were several reasons for this return visit. Firstly the museum is currently home to a collection of photographs by artist Sam Taylor-Wood entitled Ghosts, inspired by Wuthering Heights and shot on the moors above the house. Secondly, the house currently showcases a selection of stunning costumes used in the forthcoming ITV adaptation of Wuthering Heights, to be broadcast at the end of this month. And finally, I had been desperate to go back to Haworth and explore the winding windy moors the Bronte sisters found so inspiring, and on which Cathy Earnshaw spent so much of her life. The house itself is now home to the Bronte society and has been lovingly restored back to how it was when the family lived there, complete with original furniture and possessions. One of the most moving pieces in the house is the sofa on which Emily died in 1848, refusing to admit she was ill until her last breath and aged just 30.



I was really excited by the costume exhibition which features outfits worn by Cathy, Heathcliff, Isabella, Catherine and Hareton. The dresses worn by Isabella and Catherine Linton were white with pastel decoration and reminded me more of nightwear than day dresses. In complete contrast Cathy’s wardrobe was bold with stark natural tones and seemed to blur with the seasonal metamorphosis of her outdoor environment. Her dark blue dress and orange jacket with back ruffles was my favourite ensemble but as photography isn’t allowed inside the house, you’ll have to watch the film to see its beauty.