Interest in the Brontë landscape around Haworth is set to reach wuthering new heights this February with the release of a new film adaptation of one of English literature’s most enduring and uncompromising love stories.

For visitors heading to the village in the days around Valentine’s, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is offering a quieter, more atmospheric way to make the journey.

Steam-hauled services running throughout February connect Keighley with Haworth along the five-mile Worth Valley line, passing through countryside that has barely changed since the Brontë family arrived in the area in 1820.

First published in 1848, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights shocked contemporary readers with its emotional intensity and bleak honesty.

One early reviewer famously wrote of being “shocked, disgusted, almost sickened”, before acknowledging the novel’s “supreme power of love”.

It was a response that captured the novel’s lasting impact, and its refusal to soften romance into something comfortable.

Today, Haworth attracts thousands of visitors each year drawn by that literary legacy.

The railway’s stop at Haworth station provides a direct link to the village and the Brontë Parsonage, allowing visitors to experience the landscape that shaped some of the most dramatic writing in the English language.

For couples looking to mark Valentine’s Day with something less predictable, the journey itself has become part of the appeal.

Steam trains, unhurried travel and winter scenery offer a shared experience that feels closer to the spirit of the place than a conventional night out.

Tom Marshall, Marketing Officer at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, said the renewed focus on Wuthering Heights had reminded people why the area continues to resonate.

“Haworth has always attracted people interested in powerful stories rather than polished romance,” he said.

“The railway gives visitors time to take in the landscape and arrive together, which feels fitting given the way the Brontës experienced this place themselves.”

With the new film prompting fresh conversation around Wuthering Heights, February offers a timely opportunity to revisit Haworth and its surroundings, whether for literary interest, a shared day out, or a Valentine’s that leans more towards atmosphere than artifice.

Steam services run every weekend throughout February.

Further details can be found at www.kwvr.co.uk or by calling 01535 645214.
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