Lessons in the reality of rural life

During a stay on a farm in Cornwall, Andrew Purvis and his family enter a world far removed from Beatrix Potter’s.

"The worst thing that ever happened for animals in this country was Beatrix Potter," says Robin James, grabbing a newborn lamb, flipping it over and dousing the stump of its umbilical cord with disinfectant. "That was the start of the British people being so bloody stupid over animals.

They don’t wear bonnets, they don’t have panties on and they don’t think like we do. Then again, they are my living: if I don’t look after them, they won’t look after me."