The perceived, historical and contemporary, absence of ‘people of colour’ from the rural is used to maintain its status as a site of traditional, or true, Englishness (Procter, 2003). In such imaginaries ‘old’ England is evoked as a place of tradition, transcendent, intact and white, signified by royalty and stately homes (Naidoo, 2005). Visitors to such properties will rarely find in-depth explanations of the multi-cultural heritage such sites contain (Naidoo, 2005)