William Gaunt is the joint managing director, alongside his cousin John Gaunt, of Sunny Bank Mills, a former worsted cloth mill in Farsley, Leeds. It is a thriving creative and cultural hub with business space, artists’ studios, an art gallery, a museum and archive, and an events venue
A place in Yorkshire that makes you smile?
I love travelling through the Dales and moors. Sadly, my running and cycling days are behind me now, so I’m never happier than when I’m behind the wheel of my trusty Series 2 Land Rover. Being an old vehicle there is always a sense of jeopardy as we set out, but even if there is a ‘mechanical’ we have always managed to get home somehow. She is exactly the same age as me, so we get along fine, but I’m confident that she’ll outlast me in the end. Perhaps by now you have realised the ‘we’ is the Land Rover and her driver!
A place in Yorkshire where you love to eat?
For family get-togethers we head to The Wellington Inn at Darley, run expertly by Helen and Mike Cowsman. Affectionately known as ‘The Welly’ it’s a classic Dales pub with all the favourites on the menu and a roaring fire in the winter months. At some point in their youth most of my family have spent time serving behind the bar; a great grounding for any youngster. For a special meal out, we enjoy going to ‘WTS’ aka Where there’s Smoke in Masham, where chef Jon Atashroo weaves his magic cooking beautiful delicate dishes over live flames and pushing the boundaries of fine dining. It’s a real privilege that he brings his skills for us to enjoy in Wensleydale. He’s also a talented ceramicist, so you get to enjoy his wonderful tableware as well as his cuisine. John Goodyear is the impeccable host front of house and steers you through the intriguing set menu, making for a sensational evening.
A place in Yorkshire where you love to take friends?
The Himalayan Garden is just around the corner from where we live. It is a great example of how passion and art can shape a landscape. Peter and Caroline Roberts have transformed an intimate corner of Yorkshire into a delightful valley full of surprising plants and stunning sculptural pieces. The visitor wanders through the contemporary pleasure gardens being continually surprised by intriguing sculptures and occasional far-reaching views across to the moors. There is also a café with home-baked cakes as a reward for your efforts.
An early memory of Yorkshire?
I have three younger sisters and some of my happiest memories are of Saturday picnics in the Dales. My father often had to sort out pieces (of cloth) from our mills in Farsley to give to outworkers in a mending shed in Pateley Bridge in the morning, a team of very skilled women who would invisibly mend faults in cloth, a valuable source of alternative employment in Nidderdale. Whilst waiting for him to return, we would prepare a feast of cold roast chicken and Marmite sandwiches. We would all then pile into the car with our two dogs and head off to one of our ‘secret’ spots. These always entailed a beautiful corner of a stream where we would spread out rugs in the bracken and my father planted a bottle of wine in the water to cool. Meanwhile we stripped off and jumped into the clear water, scattering cows and sheep and whooshed down slippery waterfalls. We must have made an awful racket but we were very rarely moved on. After lunch we were sent upstream while our parents enjoyed a well-earned snooze in the sunshine. There was still a lot of unexploded ordinance from the war on the moors at that time so we were urged never to stray too far. Later when I was at school in Scotland I would always relive these memories by drawing scenes of dry stones walls and wind twisted hawthorns in my spare time.
Your cultural go-to in Yorkshire?
We are lucky to have a number of fantastic music festivals within easy reach: Ripon, Harrogate and Northern Aldeburgh to name but a few. In early summer the Swaledale Festival delivers a jam-packed programme that we always look forward to. The days have lengthened but the air is still cool, the cow parsley is scenting verges and people stream into assorted venues to listen to an eclectic programme of perfectly curated music. World-famous stars come and enjoy the scenery and hospitality of the Yorkshire Dales and we get to enjoy their music making. The new director, Fraser Wilson, got off to a flying start this year – we can’t wait for the 2026 programme.
A place for indulgence in Yorkshire?
I have passion for the visual arts. I grew up in an artistic home and my mother, Rosamund Jones, an etcher and painter, was the inspiration for bringing art to Sunny Bank Mills. To make a living as an artist is very challenging and a very brave decision, so we try to give artists a platform to showcase their work and to sell. We have brought more than a thousand artists to Sunny Bank Mills, both emerging and renowned. My indulgence is being able to enjoy their works whilst on show and occasionally make the odd purchase for the Sunny Bank Mills collection. Most of the collection is free to see on the walls of the mills for those willing to explore its nooks and crannies.
I’m never happier when….
At the beginning of May, the winter is long gone and the fields have greened up, the waves of blossom are well progressed – blackthorn, plum, pear, bird cherry and apple. Lambing is complete so it’s always a good moment in the year. It is well known that lambing is an emotional rollercoaster but it is a wonderful sight to watch and always a sigh of relief when the newborn lamb gets up onto its feet and the mother turns round to encourage it to take her milk. We breed Herdwick sheep, a Lakeland breed championed by Beatrix Potter and one of England’s oldest breeds probably introduced by the Vikings. The irony is that, as a former weaver of some of the finest worsted cloth in the world and used to selecting ultra-fine wools from highly bred Merino sheep from Australia, the steely grey, coarse fleece Herdwick is unappreciated in the modern world and virtually worthless. They form an important role in natural grazing and need preserving for their role in environmental and social conservation.
A Yorkshire view that inspires?
Any view in Yorkshire, whether over the wild hills and dales of North Yorkshire often with their beautiful abbeys or the juxtaposition of the grand mills and gritty landscape of West Yorkshire. Villages cling to the steep, heather-topped hillsides and lanes wind through tree-ringed meadows. As I sit in Ripon Cathedral listening to music I look up at the towering columns, clerestory and stonework of the medieval builders. We are caught up in the arrogance of the present, and it is the buildings, music and art of our forebearers that remind us they had true genius, we are merely ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’.
Three words that sum up your best Yorkshire life?
Rooted. Genuine. Honest..
sunnybankmills.co.uk
