‘The first hint of an idea came when we were up at Souter Lighthouse in the North East,’ Jay LaBouchardiere, one of half of Dorset folk duo Ninebarrow, recalls. ‘There was a large education board about Cuthbert Collingwood, who was second in command to Lord Nelson at Trafalgar. In our innocence, we had never heard of him. But the name of the board was A Pocket Full of Acorns.’

The phrase become the title of the group’s wonderful fourth album, which was released a few weeks ago to deserved acclaim. In Collingwood’s time, oak trees were crucial in the building of the British Navy. Concerned that the country might run out, Collingwood would take, yes, a pocket full of acorns when out walking, scattering them around in the hope of planting trees to make ships of the future.

Jon Whitely, Jay’s musical partner, explained to me how, ‘A Pocket Full of Acorns is about Cuthbert Collingwood and that spirit of looking to the future. It got us thinking about whether there was more that we could be doing as well.’

Ninebarrow’s future-looking is less naval-based and more environmental. A quick tot up of their carbon footprint revealed that touring was generating around 2.5 tonnes of CO2 a year: over the lifespan of their career, that might total 1000 tonnes. As an attempt to offset this, they decided to mark the release of the new album by planting a wood. With support of the Woodland Trust and crowdsourcing through fans, Jon and Jay raised the funds to do this. Set over three acres near Gillingham in North Dorset, the Ninebarrow Wooldland contains silver birch, hornbeam, wild cherries, field maples, alder, crab apple, walnut, rowan, sweet chestnut and, of course, a good number of oak trees as well.

It seems fitting for the group to mark the landscape in their native Dorset. The pair both grew up and returned to live here. Well versed in local music traditions, you can listen to any of their albums and hear how the Dorset scenery is infused throughout. The importance of place is part and parcel of English folk music, but Ninebarrow take that association a little bit further. As well as their own woodland, they have also published a book of Dorset walks, each linked to one of their songs. And this summer, they are running their first musical walking holidays.

From small acorns, as the saying goes. Happy Easter!

Editor's note on Mr Ched Evans:

In the edition of the March 18, a column by Tom Bromley headlined the murder of Sarah Everard and included references to women’s experiences when reporting allegations of rape.

It cited the case of former cricketer Alex Hepburn and also the case of professional footballer Ched Evans.

We have been asked to remind readers that Mr Evans was acquitted of rape by the Court of Appeal, whereas Mr Hepburn was convicted and imprisoned for five years.

We are happy to emphasise the distinction.