How to talk to the moor
How to talk to the moor is a 3-mile audio trail and nature recovery walk from Haworth across Penistone Hill, celebrating the wild beauty of Brontë Country. Pausing at 12 Wayfinders, you’re guided by the voice of the moor and a walker on a journey through deep time, exploring the past and present of this precious Pennine upland habitat.
To walk the trail, start outside the Old School Room in Haworth and follow the Wayfinder map. You’ll need a smartphone, headphones, sturdy shoes, and appropriate clothes for a wily, windy moor!
To listen at home, head to Wayfinder 1: Threshold to begin.
Wayfinders & route map
This map will work best if you open it in a new tab or in the Googlemaps app by clicking the maximise icon (square brackets top right of the map).
About the trail
How to talk to the moor was written during a nature connection residency celebrating the bogs and peatlands, woods, moors and meadows of the Bradford Pennine Gateway National Nature Reserve. I was one of ten artists-in-residence across the nature reserve from August to October 2026, commissioned by Bradford Culture Company and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The trail features the voice of Beccie Allen as the moor, plus sound and music by Jed Skinner (Galaxians/Expo92).
The nature reserve also includes Baildon Moor, Shipley Glen and Trench Meadows, Bingley North Bog, Ilkley Moor, and St Ives and Harden Moor. The 18-mile Bradford Pennine Gateway Trail connects all eight sites across the nature reserve, culminating at Penistone Hill trig point.
During my residency, I walked with the moor as her colours blazed from late summer into autumn. I received a wildfire emergency alert text from the government one evening while standing on her tinder-dry hillside of purple moor grass.
In the Parsonage Research Library, I pored over the Brontë family’s copy of Bewick’s A History of British Birds — the Book of Birds of its day and the first field guide to introduce non-specialists to “the beautiful tenants of the air, the woods, and the fields”. I was looking for ghosts in Patrick Brontë’s margin notes: birds that were commonplace here once, but are now rarely seen.
I scoured the latest Bradford Botany Group survey to learn the names of 134 plant and tree species found here. I went on a deep dive into peat, sphagnum moss, and bog lore via The Book of Bogs, and followed the Penistone Hill Geological Walking Trail to see if the stones would speak to me. And prior to my residency, I wuthered here— twice! — with hundreds of Cathys in a joyful tribute to the twin genii of Kate Bush and Emily Brontë. My Wayfinder audio trail braids these threads together and more to bring Penistone Hill to life and ask how we talk to her.
