ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on rural regions, it considers widely-held notions of "rurality", "countryside" and "landscape" and examines how the promotional materials tap into and support these ideas. M. Bunce uses words written by William Cowper, 'God made the country, man made the town' to highlight the idealized or romanticized view of rural life and landscape. Bunce looks at the emergence of the pro-countryside attitude from ancient times through to the rise of urban-industrialization and examines the development of philosophical, social and aesthetic reactions to this urbanization. He sees it as an inevitable result of the urban-industrial revolution which produced extreme changes in society, economy and landscape and saw a massive movement of people from agricultural to industrial-based employment. Bunce points out that because the idealization of die countryside was created through historical, cultural processes, the form this ideal takes varies from country to country; the different meanings of landscape in Britain and Ireland have been discussed.
