The room in which Charlotte Bront first saw the light is pointed out to visitors It must, however, have always been a plain, unassuming dwelling. This butcher's shop was built on one of the front flower beds. The butcher showed Ernest Raymond the room behind the shop where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born. Today The house today is basically the same as the house the Bront s knew. The owners, novelist Barbara Whitehead and fellow-writer Bernard Mayston, are gradually restoring the interior to the Regency period when it was the home of genius.
Tourists enjoy seeing how the project has progressed since their last visit.
They see the sittingroom, where in the evenings Patrick would read aloud to Maria as she sewed and knitted for her babies, or she might play on her square piano for his pleasure. They see the diningroom, where the babies were actually born and the original Georgian fireplace, whose cheerful glow first warmed and fascinated them. Visitors see the spacious bedroom for the children, where they could also play on wet days, and the parents' bedroom with its more stately character. During this last winter, some progress has been made towards returning the Bront s kitchen to its former self. Barbara's ambition is to have a working fireplace where it used to be when the Nancy and Sarah Garrs, the children's nursemaids, were two of the active occupants of this kitchen.