The perovskite structure with general formula ABX3 describes many hundreds (if not thousands) of materials. Many have interesting and technologically important properties. The defining features of functional perovskites are deviations from the ideal, high symmetry structure. Crystallography, which determines the average arrangement of atoms in a material, can be used to explore these structural distortions but, if distortions occur on a length scale of only a few angstroms (over only a small number of repeat units of the crystal structure) they will not be visible. We will study a family of perovskites containing La, Mn and Co using the 'total scattering' technique which provides insight into the immediate local environment of the atoms in a material. This information will be vital to fully understand the relationship between the structure and properties of these materials.