As a shocking new book links Charlotte Bront to the deaths of her brother and sisters, Alan Wright took the literary trail to Haworth, home of the celebrated family

The sign at the entrance told us that this was the druggist's shop where Branwell Bront, brother of those three famous literary sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, had bought the opium which contributed to his early death in 1848 at the age of 31.

Poor Branwell, a talented writer and painter, but unfortunately rather a weak character, and a disappointment to his sisters, resorted to opium and alcohol following an unhappy love affair.

This week, the literary world was digesting shocking claims in a new book that Charlotte was a jealous murderer's accomplice who helped her husband dispose of Emily, Anne and Branwell in order to inherit book royalties. True or not, it's bound to heighten the already considerable interest in the Bronts and Haworth.

As we stepped inside The Old Apothecary we were greeted by shelves stacked with potions and remedies that recall childhood days, at least if you are past the half century mark like me - mustard baths, Zam-Buk ointment, carbolic soap, along with fondly remembered confections like liquorice pipes and sherbets.

The staff, as in the many other interesting shops and cafes that line Haworth's precipitous main street, were smartly dressed in Edwardian costume. It's as near as you can get to travelling back in time.

It's a similar story at Haworth Station, at the bottom of the steep hill that leads up into this friendly village perched high on the wild moors above Keighley - the same moors, of course, that formed the backdrop for Emily Bront's powerful love story, Wuthering Heights.

As we stood on the station waving to the passengers on the steam train puffing its way down the five-mile long Keighley and Worth Valley Line, Britain's last remaining complete branch line railway, it was like a scene from The Railway Children, which, of course, was filmed along the railway. There are usually 12 trains on summer Sundays and a family return ticket costs £16.

No visit to Haworth is complete, of course, without a visit to the Bront Parsonage, which remains much the same as it was when the Bronts lived there.

We made for the Georgian Parsonage and its forbidding graveyard after a meal of Haworth lamb - leg of local lamb with rich onion gravy - and hot, jam roly poly pudding. On the way we paused to buy some Yorkshire parkin and walked past the school where Charlotte Bront taught local children.

At the Parsonage, you can see the rooms where the Bront children created their miniature worlds of Gondal and Angria. You can see the tiny books in which they wrote about the imaginary characters who inhabited these worlds and step into the dining room where the sisters walked round the table each night discussing their work. It contains the rocking chair where Anne used to sit with her feet on the fender and the sofa on which Emily died. You can also see the writing slopes that belonged to the sisters, a display of Charlotte's tiny dresses, bonnets and shoes. Admission is £3.80 per adult, £1.20 child.

A good way of finding out about Haworth's history are the 40-minute Heart of Haworth Village Walks, one early in the morning and one late afternoon. The price of £3.75 for the morning tour includes coffee and biscuits and tea and hot toasted crumpets are included in the the afternoon tour (£4.75).

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How to get there: We took the A59 from York to Knaresborough where, to avoid the traffic in Harrogate, we turned right along the B6165 to meet the A61 Ripon-Harrogate road at Ripley where we turned left. At Killinghall turn right to rejoin the A59, then over Blubberhouses to Skipton and then on to Keighley and Haworth. Parking is available behind Bront Parsonage which is open every day, from 10am to 5.30pm.

Further information on Bront Parsonage Museum: 01535 642323.

PICTURE: The Parsonage from the graveyard