‘We’re used to crowds’: Recent noise in Wuthering Heights doesn’t bother Yorkshire residents | Wuthering Heights

TThe four-mile track from the village of Haworth to Top Withens in West Yorkshire is well known; Many footprints crushed in the muddy ground by those searching for the view said to have inspired the setting of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. The landscape rolls in desolate waves of brown fern. A lone tree punctuates the scene. It’s bleak and hauntingly beautiful.

With the release of Emerald Fennell’s new take on the gothic masterpiece starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi next week, Haworth and several filming locations in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, where the book is set, are preparing for a large number of visitors.

However, locals seem clearly unfazed by the attention.

“We’re used to crowds,” cries Craig Verity, owner of the Kings Arms, a pub at the top of Haworth’s cobblestone high street, just steps from the rectory where the Brontës grew up.

Brontë’s country has been exuding connectivity for decades. On a wall in the Kings Arms, a plaque promotes a selection of Bridgehouse beers bearing the names of Charlotte, Anne, Emily and Branwell, the latter a lesser-known Brontë brother.

In the surrounding streets are the Bronte Hotel, Bronte Bar and Restaurant, and also – somewhat weakly – Bronte Balti.

The Brontë rectory, where the sisters lived, wrote and – in the case of Emily and Charlotte – died is now a museum housing artefacts, personal items and manuscripts, as well as hosting events such as workshops, talks and displays of book adaptations. It attracts about 75,000 visitors a year, a number that is almost certain to rise this year; Screening for the 1992 film Wuthering Heights Planned for February 12 has already sold out.

Scenes for this version, starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, were filmed at East Riddlesden Hall, about five miles from Haworth. The exterior of the 17th-century National Trust estate also appeared in the 2009 mini-series as Wuthering Heights itself, as well as in the now-lost 1920 silent version.

Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon’s 1939 film was set in California and filmed in Hollywood.

“We know about the use of the drug only because of a January 1921 article in the Shipley Times & Express,” said Sophie Fawcett, chief marketing and communications officer at the National Trust.

To coincide with the release of Fennell’s new edition, East Riddlesden Hall will be holding the exhibition Lights, Camera, Brontë, which will display, for example, the ‘vast oak wardrobe’ which is thought to have inspired the one described in the book’s opening pages. She originally came from Bondin Hall – about an hour’s walk from Haworth and now a bed and breakfast – where the sisters were frequent visitors.

One room here has a box bed and a window, and may have inspired the scene in which Cathy’s ghost appears before the terrified Lockwood.

For this new film, the cast stayed at Simonstone Hall, a luxurious country hotel in the Yorkshire Dales. It’s a 20-minute drive from here to Swaledale, where many scenes were filmed.

“They were brilliantly nice and accommodating people,” owner Jake Dinsdale said, noting that Ruby has since moved back in with her husband. “Even though they had booked all 20 rooms, our restaurant was still open to the public, and the staff enjoyed being around the fire pit roasting s’mores, or sitting down for a roast dinner or afternoon tea.”

His own position is equally comfortable. “I don’t know what the movie will do,” he said. “It could all just be a flash in the pan, and that’s okay. If it sticks, that’s great too. What I do know is that I won’t rename any room ‘Jacob Elordi’s room’ or ‘Heathcliff’s room.’

“Commercial hypocrisy doesn’t sit well with us – I would only be happy if guests understood why so many people love the Yorkshire Dales.”

Meanwhile, Simonstone Hall is offering a Wuthering Heights Romantic Getaway package until March 13: two nights for £738 per couple, including champagne on arrival, candlelit dinner, brandy and truffles before bed, leisurely breakfasts, and late check-out. Copies of the novel are also available in the gift shop.

Tony Watson, Head of Economy and Tourism at North Yorkshire Council, said: “The area has featured in numerous films and series; we are experienced in managing this. Post-Covid, we were already seeing more young people getting outdoors and exploring the county, and this demographic will no doubt grow as the film showcases the beauty and authenticity of the area.”

“We’ll have to wait until release to see if there’s some iconic shot that people want to replicate. If there is, we hope it’s somewhere like Aysgarth Falls, which has all the necessary infrastructure – otherwise we’ll need to suggest alternatives that don’t make a mountain rescue unhappy.”

Return to The Kings Arms, Jack Greatrex, who lives in the area, is optimistic. “The Brontë sisters shaped this village for future generations and for lovers of the landscape and literature,” he said. “This movie may mean they keep doing it.”

Whatever the impact of the new film, they are ready for it, Watson said. “I’m the luckiest tourism boss imaginable – the film will do my job for me.”