With a month of school holidays still to go, we’ve got two great family activity days coming up that might just help get you through those hot, lazy days.

Storyteller Christine McMahon will be at the Parsonage on August 8 to weave her magical tales for children in a series of sessions throughout the day, from 11am to 4pm, inspired by the northern folk tales once told in the Parsonage kitchen to the Bronte children by their housekeeper, Tabby. It’s a great way to pass on a little of your own Yorkshire heritage to your children, and you can drop in at any session. It’s free with museum entry.

Our half-day miniature ceramic houses workshop on August 17, starting at 1pm, forms part of a season of events linked with the Parsonage building itself. Artist Rachel Lee will show you how to use a variety of techniques to make lovely collectables – vintage lace and buttons are on hand to decorate – and your pieces will be fired and glazed at the artist’s studio, ready to collect later.

Older Bronte enthusiasts will enjoy a special after-hours evening at the museum, starting at 7pm, as David Cant of the Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Group takes visitors on a special tour revealing its unique and interesting architectural features.

This is also the ideal opportunity to view our £60,000 new forensically-researched decorative scheme, accompanied by tea and cake. Tickets are priced £14.

If you’re not a Bronte Society member, we’d still love to welcome you at one of our new West Yorkshire members’ events. Try it out, and if you like it, you might fancy joining the Society as a member to enjoy future events.

This month we’re visiting National Trust property East Riddlesden Hall – where 2009’s TV adaptation of Wuthering Heights was filmed – for a lecture on 17th-century needlework by our director, Ann Sumner, followed by tea and a chat about the Brontes’ own needlework.

We’re meeting at East Riddlesden Hall, on August 13, from 2.30 to 5pm, and the cost is just the £5 entry fee to the historic building (National Trust members enter free, of course). Members pay for own tea in the cafe.

In the museum at the moment you can see our most recent acquisitions on view upstairs, probably the most precious being a first edition of Mrs Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte, with – stuck inside it – six letters from Charlotte to her friend Ellen Nussey. It’s a magnificent find.

And, of course, you mustn’t miss this year’s special exhibition, entitled ‘Heaven is a Home’, which focuses on all the people who’ve lived at the Parsonage – not just the Brontes!

We very much look forward to seeing you.