BBC1, 7pm, Sunday, April 21: An episode of 'Countryfile' is going out featuring a trip to Haworth, and following in the steps of Whiteley Turner's famous travel memoir, 'A Springtime Saunter' - and it features our own Ann Dinsdale, talking about the book down at the Bronte Waterfall.
Whiteley Turner was a journalist on the Halifax Courier newspaper, who in 1907 began publishing regular columns about his walks through what was even then beginning to be thought of as 'Bronte country'. Now, a century later the book that resulted from those columns, A Spring-Time Saunter, is still loved and read.
The book followed a four-day trip from Turner's home in Mount Tabor, just outside Halifax, across the moors to Haworth, and was published in response to his many readers' enjoyment of the regular newspaper column. But journalism was not Turner's day job - he was actually a newsagent, and kept a shop at Mount Tabor, writing columns in his spare time to reflect his love of the area, and of walking.
Turner was an extraordinary man: a boyhood accident, when he lost his arm in a carding machine, had led to him being offered a free education, and as a result he was able to indulge his love of the written word, which would eventually lead to the publication of his book.
The fact that this book is still enjoyed today, would surely have delighted him.
For more information on the BBC programme 'Countryfile' click here. For more information on Whiteley Turner, read this excellent Halifax Courier article, here.