I visited ‘Cathy’s bedroom’ from Wuthering Heights ahead of the new Margot Robbie film

The classic tale of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights – especially the passionate entanglement between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff – has captivated swathes of readers since its publication in 1847, cementing the story’s status as a timeless masterpiece.

Yet despite its widespread appeal, it has always held an air of elusiveness. While other as-popular classics have seemingly been remade time and time again for the screen, there are only a select few Wuthering Heights adaptations in circulation.

Director Emerald Fennell’s new interpretation of Wuthering Heights, set to be released in February, has been presented as a loose re-imagination of the love story between Cathy and Heathcliff, played by Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi respectively.

It’s set to focus on their relationship as children too, with Adolescence star Owen Cooper as as a young Heathcliff, and Charlotte Mellington playing young Cathy. Hong Chau, as narrator Nelly Dean, Shazad Latif, as Edgar Linton, and Alison Oliver, as Isabella Linton, round out the cast.

Cathy’s bedroom

I’ve been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to immerse myself deeper into the story, with a visit to a replica film set of Cathy’s Thrushcross Grange bedroom, which was used for shooting the new Wuthering Heights adaptation. It was here, in the book, where some of the biggest moments happened – particularly in the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff.

The set has been rebuilt in West Yorkshire, Bronte’s home county, with Airbnb offering three couples the chance to stay between February 27 and March 4, and experience an itinerary which includes a horseback ride across the moors that inspired the book, a Yorkshire-themed afternoon tea, and an evening meal inspired by the film.

It’s a lavish, sumptuous space, with a silk canopied bed and an ornate dressing table, which encapsulates the grandeur and refinement of the Linton family’s estate, perhaps illuminating what captured Cathy’s attention as a young woman and subsequently were her reasons for marrying Linton – sealing hers and Heathcliff’s fate.

In the film, the bedroom was decorated by her husband Linton, whose design choices were an ode to his wife and her untamed spirit. The room is apparently painted the exact Pantone shade of actress Robbie’s skin, with vein detailing across the wall panels which deepen as the film continues, representing Cathy’s intensity and wild nature.

The backdrop for Wuthering Heights

The replica set has been installed in the grounds of Holdsworth House in Halifax, West Yorkshire, where the cast, including Robbie and Elordi, and director Fennell, stayed during filming in early 2025.

With West Yorkshire as inspiration for the book’s setting, much of the scenes in Wuthering Heights were appropriately shot in the area, including Stoodley Pike and Bridestones Moor.

Brontë’s West Yorkshire

Getting a taste of the wider location can really help bring Wuthering Heights from the screen and page into the present day. Nearby is the wild and untamed ‘Bronte Country’, a moorland region situated in the topmost corner of West Yorkshire.

At its heart is the village of Haworth, where the Bronte sisters were born and raised, surrounded by desolate countryside. Local Haworth Moor is thought to be the backdrop for Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, so I, along with my husband Ryan, decide to look for the sights referenced in the novel and embark on the 4.5-mile Bronte Connection Walk.

A stroll through the countryside seems like the perfect romantic outing, yet while the trail is moderate level, it’s still one to prepare for – Haworth Moor is rough and wild, and due to its high altitude and exposed location, is at complete mercy of the southern Pennines’ legendary uncompromising weather – harsh, gale-force winds and low visibility provide an explanation for the remoteness of the land.

Rolling clouds loom over the flat moorland as we set off, following a track cut through the brush. Every few miles, we come across a hardy, blackened stone farmhouse huddled into the hillside. Lone trees are stripped bare against an iron sky, dry-stone walls are battered and leaning, and wooden gateways are slanted and broken. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting backdrop for Heathcliff and Cathy’s tempestuous and destructive relationship as we reach the Nab, a stone headland rising out from the moors – the location of a ghostly moment in the book.

Climbing uphill, deeper into the moors and further away from civilisation, we arrive at Top Withens, an old crumbling ruin, once a farmhouse, thought to have been the inspiration behind Wuthering Heights the house. Here, the landscape is more bleak and desolate, and as we ascend the hillside, we come to open land, with low-lying mist hanging over brushy clumps of purple heather, where grouse calls are the only sound for miles alongside the roar of icy wind.

This section of the walk would have been the route from Top Withens (Wuthering Heights) to Ponden Hall, thought to have inspired the sprawling estate and parkland of Thrushcross Grange, Cathy and Edgar Linton’s marital home. It’s a blustery, difficult journey, and with no clear path we submerge ankle deep into boggy marshland. It feels reflective of the perilous journey, and the physical and emotional distance, between the two properties.

As we reach the final section of the walk, we stop at Ponden Kirk (known as Penistone Crags in the book), a gritstone formation jutting out of the heather-strewn hillside. The views from this location are breathtakingly clear – we can see for miles over the valley and across the county, spotting small villages and towns in the distance.

Romantic Haworth

After a good three hours of hiking, despite our cold feet and aching limbs, we’re eager to explore the oldy-worldy village of Haworth. With the afternoon sinking into the evening, the Bronte Parsonage Museum has long been shut for the day, but we have enough time to nip in to the old-fashioned sweet shops, art galleries and independent gift stores along the Main Street, also home to a variety of independent bars and pubs. Walking past the cosy and warm inns, with vintage street lamps casting a warm and comforting glow in the dusk, we come across The Hawthorn, a little gem perched aside the cobbled street, decked with fairy lights and an open fire.

We find it to be just the right place for a romantic meal for two. Seated at an old wooden table in a cosy nook next to the window, we decide to start with pre-dinner cocktails, and opt for the Cherry Elixir (£10.95), which goes down a treat. Our main course arrives and we devour plates of Swaledale lamb leg steak with pickled salad and bacon, mashed potato and Cafe de Paris butter (£30), while sipping a glass of Pech Sirech Malbec each (£8.50). The day ends with a large bowl of sticky toffee pudding, caramel sauce and clotted cream ice cream (£8), which we share by candlelight.

How to book:

Guests can request to book the overnight stay on February 20 by visiting airbnb.com/WutheringHeightsMovie. The experience is free, and three couples will be selected to attend across multiple days, with the three-night stays taking place between February 27 and March 4, including meals. Travel to the stay is not included, and spots are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.