Haworth:The Independent Shops Of Haworth

Hi everyone! I’m back with the third and final post on the little magical village of Haworth. Without its characteristic little independent shops it wouldn’t be quite as magical, so I thought I would dedicate a blog featuring a few of them. If you do visit here, do try to support them as independent businesses need our help more than ever. Did you read my first and second posts about Haworth?

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The benefits of shopping at independent businesses

-They provide a much friendlier service and value their customers alot more. They see you as a valuable customer and not just a number.

-You support them financially and by showing your love and support they get to continue the work they do. By doing this you also create jobs in the local areas.

-Items are more likely to be sustainable. They use more responsible practices and often use sustainable suppliers.

-Your more likely to find something weird and quirky because they do not follow what’s trending and order in mass amounts of items. Their items are usually more traditional, therefore the items are alot rarer.

-Your more likely to find quality items because they focus on quality and not quantity.

The Cabinet Of Curiosities

Apothecary shop, it sells handmade soaps and Bath powders, blended oils, gifts and lots of exciting Curiosities. They have an online store if your curious to see what else is inside, take a look here

Wuthering Arts

A gallery and gift shop selling original paimtings, original prints, cards, mugs, coasters, colouring books and plenty more. Visit their website to see and find out more here.

Eden

Offers ethically sourced vegan/ cruelty free skincare and beauty products at affordable prices. They have an online shop if you fancy seeing and finding out more about their products, just click here.

Mrs Beighton’s Sweet Shop

Mrs Beighton’s is a popular old traditional sweet shop. They have over 500 varieties of sweets available which will quite possibly leave you spoilt for choice. Get a glimpse of what they have to offer on their website .

Modo & Co

This quirky little shop offers items from wall art, signs, candles, cushions, plaques, cake toppers, teddy bears, mirrors and blankets etc. What’s really incredible about this place is that they use waste products and left overs to turn them into beautiful products. How cool! Visit their website to see what they have to offer.

Oh La La Vintage

Oh La La is a fashion vintage shop selling 1920s, 1940s, 1960s to 1980s fashion and accessories.

Hatchard and Daughters

Hatchard and Daughters is a second hand book shop that was established in 1988. It has a wide variety of books, antiquarian books which feature the Brontës.

Sonia’s Smile

Sonia’s smile is a shop that focuses their attention on fair trade. They not only do this through their products, but also raise the awareness of fair trade through events and campaigns. Visit their website to find out more about their products and work.

The Souk

The Souk is an exciting vintage house full of treasured clothing and jewellery of the past to discover.

Picture Perfect

Picture perfect is a photography store that offers photos of Haworth and the beautiful Bronte countryside on canvas, acrylic glass and framed pictures. Check out their beautiful collections on their website

Origin8

Origin8 is a traditional gift shop that offers gifts from beautiful plants, candles, antiques, fragrances, jewellery and bags etc. Visit their website to see some of their beautiful gifts available.

Pretty Penny

Pretty penny is a cute boutique shop home,fashion and gift shop that’s supports ethical, fair trade and sustainable products.

I’ve only featured 12 shops here, but there are plenty more unique shops and businesses here to discover.

I hope you have enjoyed my series of blogs on Haworth. Stay tunned for more places.

Thanks for reading

Stay blessed

Natalie ❤

Jan 01

Haworth: A Brontë Adventure

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Hi everyone! Hope you’re all enjoying the holidays and it’s been filled with love, joy and valuable time with your loved ones. Happy New Year! Wishing you all the very best for 2022! 🎊🎊

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This blog is a continuation from my previous blog post, only this time I want to take you through the Brontë Adventure. As I mentioned previously in my last blog, this was home to the Brontë sisters . The novelists lived here from 1820 to 1855 and the place was a source of inspiration for some of their writings.

Haworth has become one of the favourite UK tourist attractions due to its beauty and connection with the Brontë sisters. You can see all the monuments and connections to the family around this little village and ‘The Brontë Country’

Things to do for a Brontë Adventure

See The Brontë Country

‘The Brontë Country’ is a name given to an area including Haworth in the South Pennine hills in West Bradford.

Do The Brontë Falls and Top Withens Walk

Brontë Falls is a colourful area with beautiful waterfalls and Top Withens is an old ruined farmhouse which is a feature in Emily Brontë’s book Wuthering Heights.

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway

One of the most unique ways to see the Brontë Country is on a steam train from The Keighley and Worth Valley railway.

If you want to make it a full day trip, it is recommended to purchase the Rover day tickets. These tickets allow you unlimited travel for the full day. With these tickets you have the freedom to hop on and off all the stops along the line, they also include free entry into the Museum of Rail Travel and The Bahamas Locomotive Society Exhibition. In addition to this Return tickets and single tickets are available to purchase. For more information visit here

Visit The Haworth Parish Church

The Michael and All Angels Church is the third reconstructed Church on the site. The church was built between 1879 and 1881, though some parts including the tower survived earlier times. The church has historic ties with the Brontë family as Patrick Brontë (The father of the sisters) served as a minister here between 1820 and 1861.

The Old School Room

The Old School Room is located right next to the church and is one of the most historical buildings tied to the family. The School was built in 1832 by Patrick Brontë and all of his famous daughters taught here. For more information about the history visit here

Visit the Brontë Parsonage Museum

This is the home where the Brontë sisters grew up and wrote their famous books. It has been kept mostly the same since they lived here displaying many of their personal possessions. You can learn a lot about the sisters here from the artifacts and exhibitions. For more information you can visit here

Other things to visit

The Main Street

Haworth’s main street is a cute cobbled Street filled with independent shops, cafés, pubs and features some of those cute houses I featured in my last post.

Central Park, Haworth

The park is a lovely green space and has some beautiful views over the village, pretty flower beds and a children’s play are.

Hope you enjoyed my post today

Thank you for visiting

Natalie ❤

Dec 22

Haworth: One of the most instagramable fairytale villages

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Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a fantastic holiday, blessings to you and all your families ⛄🎄🎁. I thought I’d save this introduction of this beautiful place for the Christmas week, because like Christmas it brings such a magical and fairytale vibe.

Haworth is a little village in the city of Bradford. It was home to the famous Brontë sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne who were the writers of classical books such as Jayne Eyre, Agnes Grey, The tenant Of Wildfell Hall and Wuthering Heights. It is also the filming location of The Railway Children A film from 1970, tho admittedly I’m not very familiar with and still have not got round to watching.

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If you have been following my blog you may have read my blog Hebden Bridge: One of the most prettiest towns in Europe well, Haworth is only 20-minutes by car or a 30-minute bus ride away. I would definitely recommend visiting both places for a perfect day out.

I felt like I had just stepped into a fairytale book

I had been wanting to visit here for quite sometime after looking at various pictures on Instagram, thinking how fairytale like it looked and how I’d love to visit. And now I was finally here feeling completely mesmerised at how much it really did resemble the pages of a story book.

The main cobbled street was filled with the cutest independent shops, pubs and houses all with their own unique touches. It was one of those experiences where I truly felt like I had just stepped back in time.

How cute are these houses?

There are so many cute homes here, I wanted to photograph many of them, but that was too extreme so here are just a few.

The pubs and and a not so pretty sight. She put a stop to my fairytale mode! 🤣🙈

Haworth has some lovely pubs to experience, the one I chose to go in was the Haworth Old Hall.

Technically I didnt choose to go here, I just couldn’t be bothered to walk after missing the bus and this was recommended to me by a lovely local woman. This was of course after we had just been mortified by having to see a womans bum in the middle of the street. Yes I’m being serious! A woman actually stepped off a bus, whipped her skirt up and pulled down her tights and underwear to have a pee! 🙈

Anyway, back to the pub. The local lady who I shared the mortifying moment with told me the bus wasn’t due for another hour. She pointed to this pub and told me they do nice coffee and hot chocolate so I decided to go in. And I’m so glad I did.

The place was so warm from the moment I walked in. The staff here are so friendly and welcoming, this is accompanied by the beautiful decor and the open log fires, its such a lovely atmospheric place.

The pub is also one of the oldest in the village and dates right back to 1621.

Here are some other lovely looking pubs I spotted whilst here.

I can’t wait to share more about this place in my next blog, but I like to keep my blogs short and sweet so I’ll save the rest for another blog.

Thanks for reading

Stay blessed

Natalie ❤

Dec 07

Hebden Bridge: One of the most prettiest towns in Europe.

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Hebden bridge is a small market town situated in the upper Calder Valley of West Yorkshire, England. For anyone on a visit to Leeds, Bradford or Manchester this is a perfect place to visit nearby.

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A pleasant surprise

This was a place I actually visited unintentionally. I was on my way to a place in Bradford and had to get off the train here to catch a bus when I noticed how beautiful it was. To put it one way, It was enough to turn my head and make me want to explore it on my way back which was exactly what I did.

Here are a few interesting about Hebden Bridge:

Named one of the prettiest towns in Europe

This little town often makes all kinds of lists everywhere, here are just a few to mention. This year it has been named one of “the most beautiful places in the UK” by Daffodil Hotel. “One of the worlds funkiest towns” by British Airways Magazines and Culture trip calls it “The Greatest Town in Europe”.

It is one of the best places to go shopping in independent shops

You’ll rarely see a chain store here. Instead, you’ll find an array of independent shops that will meet everthing you require. Its actually a nice change from the usual chain stores that sell all the same things.

It is known for its welcoming atmosphere, quirkiness and creativity

In the 1970s a large number of people moved here. A fair proportion of them were hippies who migrated here due to the cheap housing at that time bringing their creativity and quirkiness with them. Since then this little town has been thriving and attracting thousands of visitors.

Its close to the countryside

you’ll see glimpses of nature everywhere

Its right next to the countryside and whatever direction you take your sure to end up in the beautiful surrounding nature. One of the most popular destinations to go for a hike is hardcastle crags which I didnt, but definitely plan to next time.

Used to be known as “Trouser Town”

Once upon a time it was known as “The trouser town” of the UK, this was due to it becoming the centre of garment-making, but mostly popular for working mens trousers.

The lesbian capital of the UK

It has been claimed by the stats that more lesbian people per head live here more than anywhere else in the UK.

Honestly, I dont think my pictures do this place much justice. Not only is it a pretty quirky place, but I found it to be much more bohemian than other market towns. I’d love to go back and photograph it probably and spend more time there. As I mentioned earlier, I visited on my way back from somewhere else therefore did not have much time here.

Recommendation

I has lunch at a place called Aya Sophia, a lovely family-run restaurant right in the centre of the town. The serves a Greek and Mediterranean cruisine with authentic dishes. I would highly recommend this place, not only a beautiful place, but offers a fantastic menu with a great service and atmosphere.

What do you think of Hebden Bridge?

Thank you for visiting my blog today, I hope you have enjoyed the post.

Stay blessed and have a pleasant day

Natalie ❤x

Nov 02

Holmfirth: The Picture-Postcard Little Yorkshire Town

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I honestly can not remember for the life of me how I come across this beautiful little town. I remember wanting to visit and looking at pictures of this place for quite some time, but being a little hesitant about visiting. Sometimes I tend to get a little anxious when traveling somewhere new, well, all the time but, especially when I have to take multiple methods of transport to get to a single place. Anyway, I decided I would take the trip spontaneously the night before. I’m so glad I’m did! And luckily my mum accompanied me on this one, this was a nice change as I’m usually solo traveling.

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Holmfirth sits in the Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, in the Holme Valley.

A bit about the history

In the 1770s the first spinning cotton machine known as the spinning jenny was brought onto Holmfirth. By the 1850s textile mills began to pop up, the population started to rise and the town had become a trading centre for the textile industry.

The town is best known for being the filming location of a popular British TV Programme series The Last Of The Summer Wine.

The town is made up of independent shops, cobbled streets, mill cottages, beautiful valleys, sloping woodlands that join on to the Peak District and the River Ribble running through the town.

Last of the summer wine filming locations we visited

Nora Batty’s Cottage

On our arrival the first thing we wanted to do was visit the Nora Batty Cottage one of the filming locations. Nora Batty was one of the characters in the show who became popular due to her wrinkled stockings, hair rollers and her funny personality. The cottage is now a self catering accommodation that can be rented.

The Wrinkled Stocking Tearoom is not connected to the show, but is a place we wanted to experience and its right next door to the cottage. It is a cute little place that offers a range of local foods and has great reviews on TripAdvisor. Although, unfortunately for us, we did not get to go inside as it was closed due to Covid so I just had to make do with a photo instead 😏.

Sid’s Cafe

Sid’s Cafe another filming location of the TV show. We didn’t get to go inside here either as this again was closed too due to the pandemic.

As we were around this area, we spotted a little tour bus that was offering tours around more of the shows filming locations. We decided to hop on board and join the tour. So glad we did because we would have never have got to see half as much by ourselves.

The Last Of The Summer Wine Tour

The tour is a 45 minute journey around all the filming locations which also incorporates the beautiful scenery of the Yorkshire Pennines and residential areas. There is also a full commentary on the history of Holmfirth. The tour is £9 per person and picks up and starts outside Sid’s Cafe every hour although, they only run on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. The tour is run by Colin, a man who owned the famous Sids cafe for twenty years and featured in many of the episodes of the show.

Here are just a few pictures from the tour, but there is plenty more to see on this tour.