Love English literature? Dream of seeing the world through the eyes of Elizabeth Bennett or Jane Eyre, Heathcliff or Mr Darcy? 

Step this way and enjoy our tour of ten wonderful English literature locations made famous by the great classics.

Norton Conyers House – Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë

By Gordon Hatton, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

Reopened in 2016, Norton Conyers House in North Yorkshire is said to be the inspiration behind Thornfield Hall, the forbidding gothic mansion to which Jane Eyre is despatched as governess to the daughter of Mr Fairfax Rochester.

A young Charlotte Brontë visited the house in 1839 and heard the story of a mad woman locked in its attic, inspiring her to create the character of Mr Rochester’s first wife, Bertha.

Today, the house is open to the public on selected dates between April and August (see www.nortonconyers.org.uk/ for details), and you can even visit the “Mad Woman’s Room”!

London – Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens

It’s hard to imagine any bond between author and city stronger than that between Charles Dickens and London.

Get to know the city of Oliver Twist by visiting the district of Clerkenwell, site of Fagin’s lair and now home to independent shops, cosy pubs, and the Charles Dickens museum at 48 Doughty Street where the author penned the novel.

And if you’re after a bigger slice of Dickens’ London, numerous companies offer Dickens-themed walking tours.

As the great man himself said in Sketches by Boz, “What inexhaustible food for speculation do the streets of London afford!”

Jamaica Inn – Jamaica Inn, by Daphne Du Maurier


By Trish Steel, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

Yes, the inn made famous by Daphne Du Maurier’s tale of smuggling and intrigue is a real place and is still open to guests and day-trippers alike.

It’s everything you would hope for: standing alone in the wild beauty of Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor, its metal sign swinging in the wind, low sooty beams and creaking floorboards ooze an atmosphere of skulduggery. 

Spend the night here if you dare: it is reported to be haunted.

Derbyshire – Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

By Clem Rutter, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

The most famous of Austen’s novels sees Elizabeth Bennett living in the southern county of Hertfordshire but it’s further north, while touring Derbyshire with her aunt and uncle, that she encounters Mr Darcy on his estate at Pemberley.

Whilst Pemberley itself was a figment of the author’s imagination, many real places are mentioned on Elizabeth’s tour: the scenic towns of Matlock and Bakewell, the beauty spot of Dovedale, and magnificent Chatsworth House.

And for fans of the BBC adaptation, no itinerary would be complete without hopping over the county border to Lyme Park in Cheshire, setting for the iconic scene of Mr Darcy emerging from the lake.

West Yorkshire – Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë


By Dave.Dunford Dave.Dunford – Own work, Public Domain, Link

The windswept moorland and distant horizons of West Yorkshire provide a fitting backdrop to Emily Brontë’s tale of passion and revenge.

Whilst a number of houses have claimed to be the inspiration for the Earnshaw family home, Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse set in dramatic landscape near the town of Haworth, is the most well-known.

After visiting, refresh yourself with afternoon tea at nearby Ponden Hall, an Elizabethan farmhouse believed to be the inspiration for Thrushcross Grange, home of the Lintons.

The Brontë sisters were regular visitors there, making use of what was at the time the best library in West Yorkshire.

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland – The Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling

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