About me and the The Brontë Sisters

My passion for the Brontës started when I moved to Yorkshire 12 years ago. 

Where it began
On my first visit to the Parsonage in Haworth the rain was coming down sideways, the wind was as cold as ice and the short walk from the car park made me feel disoriented and breathless. This weather, to me, felt like typical Brontë weather and made everything feel so dramatic. 

I paid for my ticket in the shop and the kind man who served me looked out the window at the weather and offered a shortcut through the office to the back of the house. I jumped at the chance thinking I might see something visitors normally wouldn’t see (I was hoping a rare first edition lying about or an unseen painting of Branwell's) but disappointingly I didn’t see anything interesting, a photocopier and shelves mostly. I entered the original Parsonage through a door into the kitchen and as it closed softly behind me all was still. I could hear was the wind in the chimneys and the clock ticking. Suddenly I felt I had stepped back 200 years and that any minute Tabby would be bustling me out the way saying “mind aht't road” so she could get on with her work. 

I imagine entering the house like this would have been the most common way (as it is in Yorkshire, almost always through the back door) in the time of the Brontës and so I walked around downstairs in a way they must have done every day. This feeling of being close to them (as I’ve since heard, the Parsonage does this to most visitors) brought not just an interest in their work but also their lives. How did they cope with the weather up here? Did they ever feel warm? All thoughts I'd had myself when I left my comfortable home down south and moved north into a Victorian house with useless chimneys that didn’t pull, cold that made my hands stop working and animals to care for that only wanted to try and die on me.

Starting them young
Since then I have read and learnt so much more about this unusual family. I’ve returned to the Parsonage many times and my last time was with my 10 year old daughter during the short time between lockdowns in 2020. The masks and hand gel could have made it all feel alien but the minute we walked through the door, ‘that’ feeling returned. Suddenly we were alone (an attendant had popped into the office) in the downstairs corridor with no one else pushing to see or take photos (owing to social distancing rules, family groups were sent through individually) . My daughter, called Emily of course, walked into the dining room and simply stopped and stared, she looked around and then whispered “It feels like the sisters are watching us, waiting for us to leave so they can sit down and write again”. It seemed that my Emily has the Brontë bug and from that moment she to wanted to learn and understand their lives.  

Why a shop
This brings me to the present day and why I want to sell Brontë inspired objects. 

I had been looking for a Brontë related gift and while there were endless options, none caught my eye. Instead I made something myself, a print with a meaningful Brontë quote which went down very well, the recipient suggesting that if I felt there was a gap in the market, perhaps I should consider filling it.
I allowed my imagination to wander and started thinking about other items. What kind of t-shirt would I wear?  I’d want one made of something high-quality that didn’t shrink or fade and with a simple design that I could wear casually with jeans or with a jacket to smarten it up. So I did research, spoke to printers, looked at samples, considered endless Brontë quotes and finally found a garment I would happily wear and want myself. The shop was born from that idea.

The Brontë Sisters shop is only small at the moment but I wake with ideas all the time and am chatting with small Yorkshire suppliers about more beautiful, well-crafted items to offer to Brontë fans like me. At the moment it is based over on Etsy but I dream of hosting everything on this site one day. https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BronteSistersUK 

Finding inspiration
During my hunt for items, I discovered a huge cottage industry of makers that were struggling to survive as the shows and events they usually sell their products at were cancelled during lockdown. Takling to many of them I discovered a wide range of products and skills, along with an eagerness to work with me to develop ideas for new items for my shop.  I hadn't realised that the UK had so many talented people creating items in a barn or on a kitchen table which has allowed me to stay true to my idea of using small businesses to create beautiful and thoughtful Brontë items to sell. There is so much mass-produced Brontë ‘merchandise’ on the market and it feels so impersonal, selling something made in a factory doesn’t sit right with me.

The first items in my shop are the Anne Necklaces, they are made by a friend and that started making jewellery as a hobby which became full-time when on furlough. She is very skilled and kindly makes these bespoke pieces using photographs and descriptions of the original to help her.

I discovered a talented lady who works from her farm making prints using hand made paper (when not milking cows) who has helped me grow a small idea into Brontë Prints on Petals and I am in talks with a local man who works with leather to make some bespoke products for my shop.

I know that every item and object I sell has been made with care, love and created in the way I requested to stay true to the Brontës. I follow the process from design to the finished piece, it gives me so much joy and I hope this shows.