ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the contemporary representation of French rurality, with special reference to the links between rurality, nature and heritage. The Cevennes National Park, situated on the southern edge of the Massif Central, covers an area of approximately 300,000 ha, most of which lies in the Department of the Lozere, one of the most rural and sparsely populated French Departments. The area contained within what is today the National Park has known very little industrialisation, apart from coalmining around the Ales basin and the once thriving Cevenol silk industry. The majority of the tourists who visit the Cevennes National Park are of urban origin and the type of tourism practiced there is best described as 'Green Tourism'. The tourists interviewed were invariably of the opinion that the agriculture practiced within the National Park was traditional and unpolluting, and that the local farmers respected nature unlike their industrial counterparts in places like Brittany.
