NEW Forest Folk Festival can boast award winning acts in its line-up yet again.

It follows Wednesday night's BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards at the Royal Albert Hall where Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman won the ‘Best Duo’ award, whilst the Show of Hands album, ‘The Long Way Home’ was nominated for Best Album.

This year the Folk Festival at Plaitford near Romsey, will also feature exciting new music from contemporary folk band Ranagri who have teamed up with the chart-topping 'Is This the Way to Amarillo ' singer Tony Christie.

Their joint new album, ‘The Great Irish Songbook’, celebrates traditional songs from a shared Irish heritage.

The decision was made last year to bring forward the date of the New Forest Folk Festival to the beginning of the festival season, 6th – 10th July 2016, to avoid clashing with other events in the area.

Nick Curtis, who organises the logistics of the festival says, “The BBC Radio2 Folk Festival Awards are now in its 17th Year and really does showcase the very best in Folk Music.

“We are delighted to have award winning acts on our stage again this year. And very excited that Tony Christie lead singer with Ranagri, will be performing songs from the new album released last year, giving the folk scene a completely new sound.”

Nick’s brother Keith, handles the publicity for the festival, he added: “Although we have the capacity to grow bigger, we want to keep our unique family atmosphere, which we pride ourselves on.

“Taking into account the feedback and requests from our audience, we improve our offering year on year and are becoming a firm favourite with followers of folk music.”

The idyllic location of Powells Farm, has been home to the Curtis family for six generations, and is the perfect location for this ‘friendly folk festival’. For full details on the line-up visit www.newforestfolkfestival.co.uk