2. Jun, 2021

WEDNESDAY 2-06-21

Before we went to bed last night I put the motorhome up on the levelling blocks at the front in the hope it would improve drainage in the bathroom sink and shower tray.

Fortunately the group of youngsters on the pitch next door who were getting very noisy yesterday evening did actually turn in at 21:45 so that was a good result. I have no problem with folk enjoying themselves as long as they are thoughtful towards other campers, and these were, so hat's off to them, and as an added bonus the last of the very young kids outside playing went in at about 22:15.

As for me I slept very well until a cuckoo woke me at about 06:30. I haven't heard one since we were at the campsite at Delphi in Greece, where there were a pair of them flying around, and before that I hadn't heard one since I was a kid.

Well the levelling block idea didn't seem to work as the water drained away just as slowly. I must be missing something. I do carry drain leaner and a flexible steel 'rod' I can push down the plastic pipework to free any blockages, but I'm loathed to interfere whilst we're away unless I really have to. I must try and get it fixed before our trip to Spain.

I went online whilst The Chef was getting scrubbed to see if I could get a couple of tickets to the Bronte Parsonage Museum for tomorrow morning in the hope we could go there on the way out of town, but no luck, there were no tickets available. This was very disappointing as I particularly wanted to visit the museum because I know The Chef would have enjoyed it. Lesson learned though, and we must sit down this evening and go through our itinerary and see where else we plan to visit, and try and buy tickets in advance.

We walked down in to Haworth which took us forty-five minutes which wasn't too bad and when we got to the edge of the village we had shaken off the strong breeze we've been getting up on the campsite.

So a bit about Haworth then:

On 22 November 2002 Haworth was granted ‘Fairtrade Village’ status. On 21 October 2005, Haworth Fairtrade officially signed an agreement to twin with Machu Picchu in Peru.

Haworth's traditional events were an annual service at Haworth Spa and the rush bearing. Spa Sunday died out in the early 20th century and the rush bearing ceremony has not been held for many years. A modern event organised by the Haworth Traders' Association is "Scroggling the Holly" which takes place in November. Bands and Morris men lead a procession of children in Victorian costume following the Holly Queen up the cobblestones to a crowning ceremony on the church steps. She unlocks the church gates to invite the spirit of Christmas into Haworth. Father Christmas arrives bringing glad tidings.

The first Haworth Arts Festival took place in 2000 and was repeated in 2001, but ceased. It was revived in 2005 as a festival combining performing and visual arts and street performance. The festival has community involvement and uses local professional and semi-professional musicians, artists and performers and a larger name to headline each year. It has provided a stage for John Cooper Clarke and John Shuttleworth. The festival has expanded across the Worth Valley outside Haworth and is held on the first weekend in September.

Haworth Band is one of the oldest secular musical organisations in the Keighley area. History records indicate that there was a brass band at Ponden, close by in 1854 with a body of excellent performers. It was founded by John Heaton who lived at Ponden. The band played at a celebration in Haworth at the conclusion of the Crimean War. "Over the years the world of brass band music went from strength to strength, during which time the Haworth Band went with it."

Every year the village hosts a 1940s weekend where locals and visitors don wartime attire for a host of nostalgic events.

The Brontë sisters were born in Thornton near Bradford, but wrote most of their novels while living at Haworth Parsonage when their father was the parson at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels. In the 19th century, the village and surrounding settlements were largely industrialised, which put it at odds with the popular portrayal in Wuthering Heights, which only bore resemblance to the upper moorland that Emily Brontë was accustomed to. The Parsonage is now a museum owned and maintained by the Brontë Society.

The ‘Black Bull’ in Haworth is where Branwell Brontë's decline into alcoholism and opium addiction allegedly began.

Our first port of call was to the railway station where, as luck would have it, a steam train was due to arrive in minutes. So The Chef and I perched on a footbridge across the track and stood and waited. I was keen to use the opportunity to get a little video clip of the train's arrival on my new camera, followed by a few photographs. With that job done we began climbing up in to the village, which for us tourists is pretty much just one quaint little road up to the top. It was all very pretty and not nearly as busy as we had expected.

Our first stop was at the Bronte Parsonage Museum to try and get a few pictures of the exterior and see if we could find out why there was no public admittance today. As we entered the museum car park there it was - a film unit and it's wagons. I asked one of the stewards responsible for keeping the public at a distance whenever they were about to film a scene, what it was they were filming, and it seems it's a sequal to 'The Railway Children'.

When we got the all-clear to move I asked a member of staff if I could just walk in to the front garden of the Parsonage and take a quick picture of the exterior. Annoyingly it was not possible, and so I walked through the old churchyard next door and took a picture as best I could over the churchyard wall.

Next we walked past the hall where they had just been filming and there stood three extra's dressed as Military Police (MP's), I know next to nothing about military uniforms but they looked more like American serviceman, I don't ever recall seeing British troops dressed like that. Maybe the film is to be a Hollywood blockbuster, in which case who gives a damn about accuracy, maybe they've rewritten the story to have the Yanks come along and save the day.

A fellow tourist told us that if we followed the path by the side of the churchyard we'd get to Bronte Bridge, Bronte Waterfall and Wuthering Heights but it was quite a way out. We did start to walk in that direction but then gave up when we read the next signpost giving directions and distance, besides we weren't sure if Wuthering Heights was a real place or just the name of a book.

On the way back I spotted yet another filming location where the stars of the re-make of 'Chicken Run' were enjoying their lunch.

Back on the 'High Street' we noticed a small fish & chip shop and as it was getting close to lunchtime decided to eat there. We sat outside in the breezy sunshine and enjoyed two portions of haddock & chips which came to just £10.50. They really were very nice and as we left I made a point of popping my head in to the shop and congratulating them on the quality of the food, and thanked them for selling them at such a reasonable price. In my view they could add another pound to the price and still sell as many.

Then it was almost next door to the Haworth Steam Brewing Company for a pint of bitter and a coffee.

Whilst sat there we were trying to work out what the old sandstone sign said above the 'Little Penny' shop. Can you work it out? Having made enquiries we found out - I'll give you the answer tomorrow.

We then started to make our way down the hill towards the railway station when The Chef spotted on her bus timetable one of the two buses a day to the campsite was due in about twenty minutes. The trip back cost three pounds because The Chef had left her bus pass at home along with her purse, which gave her a day without dragging her handbag around.

This evening we shall be enjoying a cream tea. I thought it would be fitting in such a quintessentially English setting. It won't be a Cornish cream tea which requires that the cream is spread over the jam, it will be a Devon cream tea where we'll be spreading the jam over the cream.

When downloading the pictures out of my new camera I noticed that the video of the steam train coming in to the station just wasn't there, I obviously did something wrong and will need to read the user's guide and have a practice. So that was a disappointment, but then that's life, do please join us again tomorrow for some more, as we drive out to the sticks.

At least I've got my cream tea to look forward.

2. Jun, 2021

2. Jun, 2021

1. Jun, 2021

1. Jun, 2021