An abandoned farmhouse thought to have been the inspiration for the setting of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights has been preserved for future generations of literary pilgrims.

Top Withens on the moors above Haworth, owned and cared for by Yorkshire Water, has attracted visitors from around the world for decades – despite there being no steadfast links with the author or her work.

The ruin has been newly-refurbished as part of a conservation task funded by Pennine Prospects through the Watershed Landscape Project and Yorkshire Water, meaning visitors will now be able to walk round safely – although its cellar has been blocked off.

Carol Prenton, of Yorkshire Water’s land and planning department, said: “We are managing the building as a ruin with a view to protecting it from vandals, but at the same time making sure it’s accessible to visitors.

“Now it has been re-pointed, the ruin will have a better chance of surviving batterings from the elements.”

Filmmaker and photographer Simon Warner will be starting a project of his own at the famous farmhouse in the new year.

He said: “I’m fascinated by the literary landscape and the sense of wildness at Top Withens, which has undergone a process of ruination since it was abandoned in the 1930s. I aim to spend a lot of time up there to get to grips with the place – the elemental aspects of its remoteness. As part of a filming project I’ll be speaking to people to find out why they make the trip to Top Withens.

“Over the years it’s been photographed countless times, offering us an archive of its advancing ruination. I hope to bring together these photographs as part of an exhibition.”