#bronte parsonage

The time I settled on was 3pm on a Tuesday, so we showed up about 10 min before our time at the admissions desk behind the Parsonage, and got checked in.  They already had badges printed out for us and the tour also includes a 10% discount in the gift shop on the day.  You can also return to the Parsonage for free on the day of your tour.  

The website states that the personalized tour will take one hour, so I had planned for our tour to be done at 4pm, which would have given us another hour to wander the museum, and then wrap up in the gift shop.  In fact, our tour actually lasted two hours and could have gone on longer had the Parsonage not been about to close!  Our guide, Lynn (I hope that is how she spells her name!) was wonderful. She was very knowledgable and great to talk Brontë with.  Our tour began outside, in front of the house, and she pointed out features of the Parsonage, the graveyard, and of the schoolhouse and the house attached to that.  I learned a lot about Haworth in the Brontës’ time and the health conditions and issues that arose from the cemetery.  We then went inside the Parsonage (thank goodness, as it was a cold day!) and in each room Lynn talked about its history and purpose.  While I am familiar with much of the lives of the Brontës (although my husband is not) I did not know about the historical changes made to the house.  How Charlotte Brontë had her bedroom expanded which affected the width of the hall on the ground floor, and the children’s room above.  And how the Parsonage was able to acquire much of the original furniture in the rooms - from recovering them after they were sold at auction or given away by Arthur Bell Nicholls.  Lynn was able to go into specifics as well, of the history of different pieces of furniture.  Even the history of the Brontë Society - I had no idea for instance that their location used to be above where the tourist center formally stood in Haworth.  

It was a fascinating tour, and our questions and comments kept the tour going I think.  I’m not sure if it would have been as long as it was, if Lynn was not so willing to talk to us, and we were not so interested.  Towards the end of our two hours, a woman came up to Lynn and said she wanted to show us some items she had out in the research library, so we could look at that before wrapping up our tour.  Ordinarily the research library visit comes at the end of the tour.  We made our way to the library, and the woman showed us some of Anne Brontë’s poems and songbook, as she had a visitor that day who was writing a book on her work and she had those items at hand.  I would later learn that the woman who was showing us these items was Ann Dinsdale, the curator at the Parsonage, and someone I am familiar with by name.  I was so excited to actually meet her!  And when she learned that I am most interested in Charlotte Brontë, she offered us an opportunity to come back to the Parsonage the next day and she would bring out something of Charlotte’s.  I was ecstatic!  

The tour wrapped up quickly after that, and unfortunately we didn’t have time to look over the exhibit at the end of the tour.  So being able to come back with our VIP pass the next day was a wonderful opportunity.

The next day, we arrived at the admissions desk and asked for Ann Dinsdale, who immediately remembered us.  She came down and brought us to the research library, where she showed me a letter of Charlotte’s to her publisher thanking them for the edits they made to Jane Eyre.  I have read that letter before, but it was so special to see the original.  Especially to see it in such good condition, despite the frayed edges.  Everything we saw was protected in a sheet of plastic, and handled by Ann without gloves, and I don't know if this is new or interesting to anyone, but we learned later that the white gloves are not really used anymore (at least at the Parsonage) because it can make people clumsier and could lead to more accidents with the artifacts.  So clean hands and plastic protectors were better.  

When we left, Ann let us back into the Parsonage so we could finish up our tour of the exhibits, and we spent a good hour poring over everything.  And then of course, we cleaned up at the gift shop!  I can’t recommend this tour enough to anyone who is a huge Brontë fan.  The personalized touch, and the opportunity to see behind the scenes at the Parsonage was already worth the price, but it was also wonderful to learn so many new things about the house and it’s famous occupants.