A rambling home in Brontë Country

This massive Bed and Breakfast rents out a maximum of two bedrooms – unless you take the whole house, which means you’ll find nine more. It’s walking distance from Wuthering Heights in a remote setting in National Trust land outside Hebden Bridge. Your host is a pianist and the house often rings with music, comes to life with evening three-course meals and when it’s time for bed there’s a choice of three staircases.

Because Walshaw Lodge only takes four B&B guests at any one time you’ll always have plenty of space. A welcome tea is served in one of five sitting rooms, warmed in the winter by an open wood fire, while small children will find there’s a playroom, with toys, to keep them amused. Whichever bedroom you choose you’re sure to find comfortable beds, en-suite or private facilities, and plenty of creature comforts: all rooms have been recently decorated to the highest standard. There’s even a concert hall attached to the property where private recitals can be booked, but this is at extra cost: it’s a performance not a singalong. There’s an outdoor seating area but Walshaw Lodge was built as a hunting lodge, not a home, It has 12,000 acres of grounds but no garden: instead you get sheep, fields and moors on every side. There’s plenty of parking, four garages, an EV charger, and simply a great deal of space.

There are few better places to experience the full remoteness of Brontë’s windswept world. Walshaw Lodge was an 1850 redevelopment of two farm buildings into a hunting lodge, and it’s two or three miles from anywhere. This makes Walshaw Lodge’s winning package that combines bed, breakfast, and a three-course evening meal such a natural choice. Jane Eyre might have been happy to traipse the moors at night in search of sustenance but few of us, now, would see that as an attractive prospect. This is a place to hunker down in considerable comfort, and relax into it’s lavish hospitality.

It’s hugely popular with walkers. The Pennine Way passes through the grounds, and its an easy walk from the property to Wuthering Heights. Dogs are welcome as long as well-behaved and not left alone.

Walshaw Lodge B&B suggests:

Stay self-catering. In the grounds of Walshaw Lodge the Cottage is a newly-renovated property sleeping six, with a hospitality hamper supplied including all you’ll need for a continental breakfast and a bottle of wine to help relax in the evening. There’s a minimum stay of two nights here but with five good walks from the door it’s a great stop for hikers passing through. Or rent out Walshaw Lodge in it’s entirely on a self-catering basis: with nine bedrooms – sleeping 16 – this is something of a bargain at £1,000 per night.