This 16th-century house on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales is the setting of new film Emily – and you can stay there. Here’s how
Tell me you have seen Emily, the new film about the Brontë sisters? If not, do so immediately. It is a delight, deserving of an Oscar, and the award should go to the Yorkshire countryside – those mysterious moorlands, wind-ravaged trees and ragged rivers that form the film’s most vivacious and powerful character. It made me want to drive through the night, just to run through the rain as Emily does. So that is what we did.
The film is set at Broughton Hall, a 16th-century house on the edge of the Dales with a hell of a history. Over the past three years, 16 holiday homes have been opened across its 3,000 acres, ranging from one-bedroom hermit huts in the remotest wilds of the estate to the 22-bedroom, opulently restored hall at its very centre, which you now can rent in its entirety. Four are newly refurbished, including ours – the Manse.
Staff won’t spill the beans on exactly which cast members slept in our beds but the Georgian building has been renovated to please all. There are yoga mats in the boot room; flagstone floors throughout; and a generously kitted-out kitchen with a Rangemaster oven and cookbooks.
My favourite spot – a Victorian-style glasshouse extension – looks out across a vast, walled kitchen garden where artichokes tumble out of raised beds. The four double bedrooms are all en suite, with beautiful views, shuttered windows, original art on the walls and antique easy chairs.