Perry came from northern roots, his father being a scientist. At the end of WWII, as a Conscientious Objector he and a number of other COs who wanted a different way of life had settled in the woodlands around Exmoor and Dartmoor.  A small group broke away and decided to make camp in West Cornwall at Lamorna in the woods there, and thereby the so-called 'Woodcutters' came into being. Environmentally they lived close to the earth, cut wood and took other odd-jobs to make a basic living, and some made art as well.

Perry's first wife was the artist we now know as Biddy PICARD, and with her, setting up home first in the Lamorna Valley and then as children were born, in nearby Mousehole. Two daughters and a son, Jane (Nig), Greta PERRY and Peter PERRY were all born in Cornwall, Peter in the George LAMBOURN studio home which now belongs to Ken HOWARD. The front room of their small home became a shop (which it remains today with owners having changed in due course), and behind that shop Biddy set up the first Mousehole Pottery.

Perry left Cornwall with his second wife, Nina from St Ives, and set up home in North Wales, where he again deliberately chose an alternative way of life (no electricity, telephone, indoor toilet), entering the forestry business in a large scale way, buying woodlands, planting, felling, selling.

His woodcarving probably did not continue, according to his son, though he had a huge workshop with wood waiting for his handwork. Nonetheless, the few pieces left in the family attest to his considerable abilities creatively. Not being a sensible manager, and something of a 'gambler' in the trade, Perry had to declare bankruptcy at some point and lost everything. He died in Aberystwith.