Exploring the Wuthering Heights filming locations in the Yorkshire Moors

Thick oozing mud clings to my boots at every step, pulling me towards the ground, as bristly burdock seed pods cling to my jacket, refusing to release their hold even after the most vigorous shake.

I’m on a winter walking holiday in the Yorkshire Dales and it feels as though the wildness of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is all around me. On the first day of a four-night itinerary with tour company HF Holidays, the guide Richard leads me and seven others around Malhamdale, in the south of the region, where bubbling springs mysteriously emerge from the ground at Aire Head.

For years, the source of the water was unknown until it was discovered three miles away at Malham Tarn. The fact that there is still so much unknown about the extensive network of cave systems that lie beneath the earth in the Dales adds to the intrigue of the national park.

It’s this untamed landscape which drew filming scouts for Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights – which hits cinemas this Friday, 13 February – to the moors. However, rather than heading to Haworth in West Yorkshire, where the Brontës lived and Top Withens – the abandoned farmhouse said to be Emily’s inspiration for the book – can be found, the team decided to film in the limestone valleys of Arkengarthdale and Swaledale, two of the northernmost dales.

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And while all eyes will be on Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in their provocative roles as Cathy and Heathcliff, it is clear the landscape will also steal some of the limelight.

On my second day I choose to leave the group to explore the filming locations I researched in advance. I drive the 40 miles up to Reeth, a cobbled-stoned village which was a base camp for some of the production team. Here, a local tells me it makes sense that Arkengarthdale was chosen: “The scouts were looking for somewhere wild and there’s nowhere in the dales more wild than there.”

Just eight minutes later, in the village of Langthwaite, I climb a steep hill behind The Red Lion Inn. Turning onto a bridleway that crosses Booze Moor, where some of the remote moorland scenes were filmed, I see what she means.

There are no doubt spectacular views on a clear day, but a heavy mist hangs in the air when I visit. A light dusting of snow tops the scrubby heather and a dilapidated drystone wall. I imagine this is exactly the kind of weather the crew was hoping for when filming last March. Unfortunately, unseasonably warm temperatures meant they were forced to bring in smoke machines to create the moody atmosphere.

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Feeling “nithered”, as they say in Yorkshire – meaning shivering with cold – I hurry back to my car. My next destination is Surrender Bridge and the Old Gang Smelting Mill, the most identifiable of the film’s locations. Built around 1846, the site processed lead ore using water power and peat as fuel. However, it fell into disrepair after operations ceased between 1899 and 1903.

Visitors access the site along a bridleway, which takes around 20 minutes. As I walk the stony path, the gloom is so dense it’s hard to see further than a few metres ahead. To my left, I hear running water; to my right, the barking cries of red grouse. When two shadows emerge up ahead, I have to have a stern word with myself to remember it is not the ghosts of Cathy and Heathcliff, before the shapes form into a pair of waterproof-clad hikers.

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The mill’s great chimney looms over the derelict main building, which in its heyday included a wheelhouse and several hearths. As a scheduled ancient monument, visitors are asked not to touch or climb on the ruins, but are free to explore. Creeping through the abandoned rooms, I feel the history running through them.

Sarah Whiteley, senior historic environment officer at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, was on site for the filming. “Everyone was so enthusiastic and committed to getting the job done well. And the cast were all ever so nice, no diva behaviour at all!” she says.

It is a sentiment that is echoed by everyone I meet. The consensus is that the cast and crew were a delight to have in the area and ignited a feeling of excitement in the tight-knit communities.

“It was so lovely to see the horses and carts running up and down the roads, exactly how it would have been,” one resident says. Although a few smiles were raised at some of the props. “They brought metal trees to stand on the top of the moors. There could never be trees up there, they’d be blown over in minutes!”

In the nearby village of Low Row, Margot Robbie was spotted eating lunch in the cosy Punch Bowl Inn, much to the delight of a little girl who was heard shouting: “It’s Barbie!”

My final stop is Simonstone Hall, a stylish hotel built in the 1600s, where the stars stayed. Owner Jake Dinsdale says: “It was lovely having them here as they used the place exactly how it was made to be used, as a large country house. I’m excited that the film is going to show a different side of the Yorkshire Dales. It’s just as special on a dark and moody day as it is on a sunny one.”

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It’s a feeling HF Holidays, who are leading my walking holiday, share. Wendy Turner, the company’s head of UK product, says: “Whilst it’s too early to tell, we do anticipate a spike in demand for our walking holidays in the Yorkshire Dales following the release of the film. Cinema is a wonderfully evocative way for viewers to get a glimpse of onscreen locations, and this often drives a real desire to visit in person.”

As I rejoin my group for the final day, we stop and gaze in awe at the giant mouth of Gaping Gill, the opening to a 110-metre-deep cavern. It is part of a three-mile network of treacherous tunnels. Having defied generations of explorers, it became known as the “upside-down Everest” until the course was finally completed by two cavers in 18 hours in 1983.

That’s the Yorkshire Dales for you, full of intrigue and a sense of wildness that can never be tamed. It’s clear that no matter who is in the latest big screen adaptation of Wuthering Heights, it’s always going to be the bewitching landscape that is the star of the show.

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HF Holidays offers four-night guided or self-guided walking holidays in the Yorkshire Dales from £479 per person, all-inclusive. It also hosts a Brontë Book Club three-night stay from £499 per person, all-inclusive.

This includes three nights at Newfield Hall, a cosy country house, set in two acres of beautiful grounds. The shared dining and sitting rooms are the perfect place to relax in front of an open fire, while chatting about the day’s walks with other guests. Bedrooms are spacious and comfy, with views of the surrounding countryside. Hearty breakfasts, three-course dinners chosen from an a la carte menu, and packed lunches are provided every day.

Emily-Ann was a guest of HF Holidays