Cows staging protests, puzzle-solving geese and a rebellious mopper-upper.

These are just a few of the engaging characters who Sonia Kurta met during her time in farming. And that’s not to mention the farm workers in every shape and size or the occasional boss who just had to be kept in his place.

Sonia was inspired by farming as a little girl on her grandparents’ smallholding in the 1930s. It was a love which impelled her to join the Land Army at seventeen and continue farming for the years which followed.

Based largely in Cornwall, Sonia gathered experience on farms ranging in size from the one-horse establishments to the great Caerhays estate. These lively and accurate recollections show the fun that was to be had in the last days of the working horse.