The Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, the shrine to the famous literary sisters, has recorded its best August visitor figure for years.

Almost 16,000 people went through the doors of the building which has remained little changed since the family lived their in the mid 1800s.

Bronte guardians attribute the increase to a boom in Bronte interest as a result of the BBC drama In Search of the Brontes screened early last month.

The two-part docu-drama was filmed in the village last year, locations shots taken in the Parsonage and on the cobbled streets.

Alan Bentley, museum manager, said: "We had 15,886 people visit the Parsonage in August compared to about 11,000 in August 2002.

"The last time we had a figure like that was in 1995 when we had about 18,000.

"This is very pleasing and we believe it was the result of the good weather and the BBC programme on the Brontes which was filmed in the village."

Further interest in the Brontes is expected to be generated when a new film eventually goes on general release in 2005.

Random Harvest, an independent British film company, is to chart the life of family in a £7.5 million movie.

Film bosses are looking for a site on the moors of West Yorkshire to recreate the parsonage.

Mr Bentley said the parsonage in Haworth was not suitable because of the amount of equipment required and the need for film makers to pan "through walls" from one room to another.

"It will be a great opportunity to remind the world about the Brontes," he added.

Original features like Charlotte Bronte's desk, where she wrote Jane Eyre, will be reproduced from the originals in the Haworth museum.

Filming is expected to start next spring.