Think of the Brontes and Haworth, with its wild moorland surroundings, springs to mind.

Yet the literary family left their mark upon other locations in Yorkshire, such as Mirfield and, Gomersal in West Yorkshire and Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

I knew of these connections, but had no idea of the links the family had to an area bordering the River Ure near Boroughbridge.

Now the story of their links to the pretty villages in this rural corner of the county have been mapped out as a walk for all - whether a Bronte afictionado or not - to enjoy.

The Bronte Trail is one of a series of ‘Ure Walks Through Time’, neatly presented in a number of leaflets available at the Tourist Information Point.

We set off on a fine morning, to the village of Great Ouseburn, a settlement village mentioned in the Domesday Book.

The walk begins at St Mary’s Church, where, in the churchyard, a railed obelisk brings the first link to the Brontes, being erected in memory of Dr John Crosby, a good friend of Branwell Bronte.

Dr Crosby was physician to the Robinson family, of nearby Thorp Green Hall where, between 1840 and 1845, Anne worked as governess to the Robinson children. In 1843 she obtained a post for Branwell to tutor the young Edmund Robinson, who had outgrown Anne’s care.

From the church we followed a stretch of road, passing a field of Belted Galloway cows with their woolly heads and distinctive white bands, before turning across a meadow to Mill Lane.

This rural track leads to Long Plantation, where, in 1846, Anne Bronte wrote her three-verse poem ‘Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day’, which was published in 1846 under her pen-name of Acton Bell.

In the distance buildings that once belonged to Kirby Hall can be seen. Demolished in the 1920s, the hall was a Palladian-style mansion which Anne referenced for Ashby Hall in her 1847 novel Agnes Grey.

Passing a large field of deer, we reached a farm, and entered a grassy path, with thick vegetation on either side, and opened up to open countryside. In Anne’s day this footpath was known as Bowsers Lane. It emerges at Thorp Head, close to the River Ouse. Branwell Bronte’s poem ‘Lydia Gisborne’ begins:

‘On Ouse’s grassy banks – last Whitsuntide, I sat, with fears and pleasures, in my soul commingled, as it ‘roamed without control’.’

Reaching the hamlet of Thorpe Underwood, Moss Hill Lane was Moss Lane in Agnes Grey and at its junction with Thorpe Green Lane you can glimpse Monks’ Lodge above a tall wall, where Branwell stayed. A sketch he did of the building still survives and is reproduced in the leaflet.

The main building of what is now Queen Ethelburga’s College, a private school, stands on the site of Thorp Green Hall, where Anne was employed. This became Horton Lodge in Agnes Grey. The original building was destroyed by fire and the new hall built in 1895.

Branwell fell in love with the mistress of the house Lydia Robinson. In 1845 he was dismissed by her husband and fell into a life of drinking and drug abuse, leading to his death three years later.

The lane leading from the Thorpe Underwood to Little Ouseburn was marred by litter, including several empty vodka and gin bottles. An unexpected sight on a country lane.

We ended up at Holy Trinity Church in Little Ouseburn, where Anne took the Robinsons every Sunday. A sketch Anne made of the church is reproduced in the leaflet.

Factfile

*Great Ouseburn is five miles from Boroughbridge, off the B6265, a short drive from the A1 (M).

*Ure Walks Through Time, available from the Tourist Information Point, 1 Hall Square, Boroughbridge, **or call 01423 323373; boroughbridge.org.uk.

*The walk is five miles (8km) long but can be shortened - details are included in the leaflet.