Obliterating Brontë Country

The Telegraph publishes disturbing news:

The views which inspired Wuthering Heights face being "completely destroyed" by a 150-home development, the expert behind a Brontë County tourism drive has said.

The rolling hills outside Bradford, west Yorkshire have been unchanged for centuries and now form the gateway to the Brontë Way, a trail through the rugged landscape where the novelist sisters played as children and later used as motivational walks for their novels.

The walk was revamped only three years ago when author Michael Stewart created the Brontë Stones Walk, a nine-mile hike which takes visitors from Thornton, where the Brontës were born, to their famous parsonage at Haworth, now a museum.

At the start of the walk visitors emerge into three meadows with breathtaking views of the moors that featured in the novels Wuthering Heights, Jane Eye, and Shirley.

But under plans proposed by Bradford council, part of the walk would become a site for 150 new homes, a mixture of council and private housing.

Mr Stewart, 50, said: “The view will be completely destroyed. Instead of walking across beautiful fields with unspoiled views of the valley beyond you will be walking in the shadow of walls, fences, and the backs of houses.

“It is very odd because there are council signs everywhere saying 'Brontë Country', so even entertaining the idea does not make any sense.

“This will be devastating not just for the culture of Bradford but the economy as well.” (...)

Nearby properties include Wycoller Hall (Ferndean Manor in Jane Eyre), Haworth Parsonage, where the Brontë family lived, which is now the Brontë Museum, and Oakwell Hall (Fieldhead in Shirley).

Also affected will be the moors at Top Withins (Wuthering Heights), and the hills to the Spen Valley (Shirley country).

Planning documents published by Bradford council say: "The Brontë Way, which is a draw for tourists and has high cultural significance, passes through the centre of this space.

"A sensitive site design which incorporates green infrastructure will be required to mitigate any impact on the Brontë Way, green infrastructure corridor and the wider landscape."

Thornton is earmarked as one of the council's "Local Growth Centres", meaning it is expected to make a "a significant contribution" to meeting housing targets, the planning documents state.

In total 575 new homes are planned, in cluding some on former green belt land, the plans reveal. A consultation closed at the end of last month. (Olivia Rudgard)

 The Daily Mail includes the following map (you can check the council's local plan here) and adds:

If the Local Plan is approved, the 150 houses could be built within six years according to Bradford Council which admitted: 'Development at this large, open Green Field site has the potential to adversely alter the setting of these sensitive heritage assets.
'The site consists of a large open space on a hillside. The Brontë Way, which is a draw for tourists and has high cultural significance, passes through the centre of this space.
'A sensitive site design, which incorporates green infrastructure will be required to mitigate any impact on the Brontë Way.'
But Steve Stanworth, founder of Thornton's Brontë Birthplace Trust, said: 'It should be a nonstarter. They just don't understand the history. People are up in arms. It is nonsense.' (William Cole)

Also in The Daily Express, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Times, ActuaLitté (France), La Repubblica (Italy)...

BFI has an article on Andrea Arnold:

Even chillier is Wuthering Heights, Arnold’s 2011 adaptation of Emily Brontë’s tormented romantic saga set on the Yorkshire moors. Misidentified on release as an unconventional take on a classic, with particular focus going to Arnold’s decision to cast the mixed-race James Howson as Heathcliff (a character plainly depicted as ethnically ambiguous in Brontë’s novel), the film actually looks like one of the more faithful interpretations.

If Cathy (Kaya Scodelario) and Heathcliff remain curiously somewhat at a distance throughout, Arnold’s film at least matches the desolate poetry of Brontë’s prose. The director’s usual urban cacophony is replaced by a remorseless soundtrack of wind and rain, and Robbie Ryan’s ever-searching camera roams an endless, untamed wilderness. (Brogan Morris)

Broadway World recommends musicals you can stream now:

Daddy Long Legs

Based on the classic novel which inspired the 1955 movie starring Fred Astaire-a beloved tale in the spirit of Jane Austen, the Brontë Sisters, and "Downton Abbey"-this heartwarming Cinderella story about a witty and winsome young woman and her mysterious benefactor has charmed audiences of all ages from Los Angeles to London. (Sarah Jay Leiber)

The Daily Jang (Pakistan) quotes local stars Manzar Sehbai and Samira Ahmed saying 

He also quoted beautiful lines of British novelist Emily Brontë on the occasion of their first wedding anniversary. "Whatever our souls are made of...her and mine are the same" - Emily Brontë.

Dating in lockdown times in Grazia Daily:

In September, things changed. As the bars opened, I downloaded Tinder and began swiping. A few weeks in, I met an attractive writer who made me laugh over Jane Eyre jokes. We started going for drinks, dinners (all with a 10pm curfew) and, by the November lockdown, he popped the only question that matters in a pandemic, asking me to be in his bubble. (Rhadika Sanghani)

Zon Magazine (Italy) recommends Anne with an E:

Del resto, vi sono state diverse opere artistiche e letterarie che hanno denunciato la condizione degli orfani a cavallo tra il XIX e l’inizio del XX secolo, basti pensare all’ Oliver Twist di Charles Dickens o alla Jane Eyre di Charlotte Bronte. (tiara) (Translation)

AnneBrontë.org celebrates Easter with the Brontës.