Jarvis Cocker and Jeremy Deller join forces for a new National Trust art trail

Ever fancied going on a Sunday afternoon stroll with Jarvis Cocker? Haven’t we all! While It’s Nice That can’t quite promise that you’ll be ambling about with the erstwhile Pulp frontman any time soon, we can deliver the good news that Cocker has been tapped up by the National Trust to put together a bespoke art trail up in the Peak District.

Intended to get walkers thinking about how best to protect the environment, Be Kinder sees Cocker paying tribute a mass trespass on the moorlands of Kinder Scout way back in 1932. The National Trust themselves describes the action as “forging the way to open access to the countryside and the creation of the UK’s national parks.”

The trail takes culture vultures from Edale railway station to the foot of Kinder Scout plateau, and Jarvis has had a helping hand from the one and only Jeremy Deller. Along the way ramblers will discover “surprising and secret artworks in places where guest artists have been inspired by the landscape and the trespass to reignite a passion in them for the nature,” says the NT.

“My first encounter with Kinder Scout was an orienteering weekend organised by my school in Sheffield,” the Babies singer says in a press release from the National Trust. “It was the ‘treasure hunt’ aspect of this, taking us from one place to the next, that got me hooked. I made a connection.”

He goes on to say that the hope is that the combination of Jarv’n’Jeremy will entice citydwellers to don their Merrell boots for a day out in the countryside, reflecting on the importance of preservation over a flask of hot tea and a slab of Kendal Mint Cake.

The National Trust states that “the trail includes an intervention by writer Jon McGregor, whose novel Reservoir 13 was written in and inspired by the area; art duo Instar, who have been working with schools and groups in the region to design limited edition backpack patches inspired by a love of the countryside and a Cinebarn with a show reel of film clips, selected by Jarvis.”

We’re informed that the walk takes a mere three hours.