By Debbie James

Mr Perkins' maps are not only of historical interest to him but they have been very useful to him in his work.

Despite paper copies of maps being printed from 1900 onwards, local maps were not available so offices like Mr Perkins' had the arduous task of tracing copies from originals.

"It was quite a time consuming job which I remember well," he says. "We had to do this until photocopying became more commonplace. In fact we carried on tracing until the 1990s when photocopiers could produce copies larger than A4. Until then, there was a problem with taping the bits together."

Mr Perkins, a fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies who was awarded an OBE for services to agriculture, ultimately aims to display his collection, which is ever-growing. "I don't go out frantically looking for maps in sales, but if one or two come up for auction in Carmarthen I keep an eye out for them," he says.

Whether any of those would be of much use if he did get lost on his travels is debateable which is why there is an Ordanance Survey map tucked into the glove compartment of his car to resolve that male dilemma.

3:57pm Monday 25th February 2008

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