Guide Brontë
← Back to Guides
Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights, released on 13 February 2026, was filmed primarily in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Margot Robbie plays Catherine Earnshaw, Jacob Elordi plays Heathcliff, and the landscape they inhabit on screen — the open moorland, the wind-scarred ridgelines, the grey stone farmhouses — is not a studio construction. It is real. It is accessible. And it is approximately ninety minutes from Windermere by road.
The film has revived serious interest in the novel and in the real landscape that inspired it, driving significant traffic to Haworth and the Dales in the months since release. If you are planning a visit in response to the film, this guide covers everything you need to know: where the filming took place, how the locations relate to the novel, and how to see them properly.
The production used the Yorkshire Dales extensively, concentrating on the upper Swaledale valley and the surrounding landscape. The principal locations were:
Arkengarthdale — the remote valley running north from Reeth, with its dramatic moorland profile and largely unchanged dry stone wall field system. Several of the exterior scenes establishing the wild, windswept character of the Heights were filmed on the moorland above Arkengarthdale. The valley is one of the least-visited in the Dales and retains a genuine isolation that the film's cinematographer specifically sought.
Swaledale — the main valley, from Keld in the upper dale toward Reeth, provided multiple locations. The stone farmhouses, the haymeadows along the valley floor, and the fell sides above the intake walls all feature in the film's middle sections.
Low Row — the village in Swaledale's mid-section provided the hamlet scenes and several of the interiors. The church at Low Row appears briefly.
Simonstone Hall, Hawes — the production team was based at this hotel in Hawes during the principal photography period. Simonstone Hall is on the road between Hawes and Hardraw Force, eight miles west of the Arkengarthdale locations.
Emily Brontë never set foot in Swaledale. Her landscape was the moorland above Haworth in the West Riding — the Haworth Moors, which she walked throughout her life and which she described in Wuthering Heights with the precision of someone writing from direct experience.
The decision to film in the Yorkshire Dales rather than at or near Haworth was a production choice, not a geographical one. The Dales landscape — remoter, more dramatic, less developed than the heavily visited Haworth Moors — gave the cinematographer the visual scale the film required. It looks like Brontë's landscape because it is the same kind of landscape; it is not the specific landscape she described.
For visitors who care about the distinction, this matters. The real Wuthering Heights landscape is at Haworth, on the moors above the village, and particularly at Top Withens — the ruined farmhouse whose profile on the moor above the Brontë waterfall walk is the most commonly cited real-world equivalent of the fictional building. Top Withens is twenty minutes' walk from Haworth village.
The 2026 film locations are a different kind of pilgrimage — to the places that a 21st-century filmmaker chose to represent Brontë's landscape on screen. Both are worth making.
Arkengarthdale from the B6270 — the road from Reeth to Langthwaite gives the best overview of the upper dale. The open moorland visible above the wall line is the moorland in the film's establishing shots. The village of Langthwaite at the head of the dale is worth stopping at — the Red Lion pub is one of the oldest in the Dales.
The Swaledale valley road — the B6270 from Keld to Reeth passes through or alongside most of the principal filming locations. Allow two to three hours to drive it with stops, or a full half-day if you want to walk sections.
Low Row — a small village requiring no more than twenty minutes. The church and the farmhouse visible from the road are the recognisable elements.
Whatever the film used for its locations, the authoritative Wuthering Heights landscape is at Haworth. The Brontë Parsonage Museum — where Emily Brontë lived, worked and died — is in the village. The writing table where Wuthering Heights was written is in the museum. The moors above the village, reached by a thirty-minute walk from the church, are the moors Emily described.
Top Withens, on the ridge above the Brontë waterfall walk, is approximately two miles from Haworth on a clear fell path. The building is a ruin — the roof is long gone — but the position, exposed on the ridge with the moor dropping away on all sides, is close enough to Emily's description to make the connection persuasive.
The Parsonage Museum has been significantly more visited since the film's release. Booking in advance is strongly recommended.
Haworth and the Dales are ninety minutes from Windermere by road. Our Brontë Country Day Trip departs from Windermere, crosses the Pennines through the Dales, and reaches Haworth for a full afternoon visit — the Parsonage Museum, the church, the moors and the village. The route back passes through the Dales and can be adjusted on private tours to include the specific 2026 film locations in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.
For visitors who specifically want the film locations alongside the novel landscape, a private bespoke tour combining both is the most practical option — the Swaledale locations and the Haworth Parsonage in a single day, with an expert storyteller who knows the literary context.
The Brontë Country Day Trip covers Haworth and the Brontë landscape. For the 2026 film locations alongside the novel landscape, enquire about a private tour.
Planning a Brontë Country day? These go well together:
Where was the 2026 Wuthering Heights film filmed?
Emerald Fennell's 2026 Wuthering Heights was filmed primarily in the Yorkshire Dales National Park — Arkengarthdale, Swaledale and Low Row all feature. The cast stayed at Simonstone Hall in Hawes during production.
Who stars in the 2026 Wuthering Heights film?
Margot Robbie plays Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi plays Heathcliff. The film was directed by Emerald Fennell and released on 13 February 2026.
Is Wuthering Heights a real place?
No. Wuthering Heights is fictional. Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse on the moors above Haworth, is most commonly associated with the fictional building. The real landscape that inspired the novel is the Haworth Moors in West Yorkshire.
Can I visit the 2026 Wuthering Heights filming locations?
Yes. The primary filming locations — Arkengarthdale, Swaledale and Low Row in the Yorkshire Dales — are fully accessible. Lake District Tours offers private tours combining these locations with Haworth and the Brontë Parsonage Museum.