Heritage Open Days, England’s largest festival of history and culture, returns this month on September 11–20, giving people free, behind-the-scenes access to some of Yorkshire’s most interesting historical places. The theme is Hidden Nature, encouraging us to explore heritage in the great outdoors and, for the first time, the programme has in-person and digital events. Here, the organisers of three of them, discuss what they have in store.
SUNNY BANK MILLS, FARSLEY
Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley, one of the last remaining family owned mills in Yorkshire, will be hosting its ninth year of HODs events, with much more of a focus on the digital side of things this year.
Co-owner and managing director William Gaunt says: ‘We are getting the archive digitally recorded in 3D, which will be available on our website, so people will be able to zoom in on artefacts. We are also recording video tours of the mill, which will be online. It will be nice to have them on record, so people can see the mill without visiting – at any time and from anywhere in the country.
‘But we’re still running some tours in person over the HODs weekend. We usually have about 30 people on our tours, but this year we are limiting it to groups of five, by appointment only. We felt it was important not to be entirely beaten by Covid-19 and to still deliver something, and we have the space and scope here to do it safely.
‘We’ll also try and stream the tours on Facebook Live, so people can ask questions from home just as they would in person.’
This story is from the September 2020 edition of Yorkshire Life.
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This story is from the September 2020 edition of Yorkshire Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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