Stella Gibbons’s novel "Cold Comfort Farm," is the epitome of a parody of a traditional rural novel. Parody is defined as "an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect" (Oxford Dictionary). This is true of "Cold Comfort Farm" as Gibbon’s follows the conventional structure of an agricultural novel, with the elements of family feuds, an isolated setting, and the landscape description, depressed misery cloaked by parody. This is all evidence to agree that "Cold Comfort Farm" is "the comic classic of rural life" (Penguin Books). Gibbon’s stated that she "did not believe people were any more despairing in Herefordshire than they were in Camden town" (Gibbons) Flora Poste is Gibbon’s heroine in "Cold Comfort Farm" and she symbolises the ‘urban’ intrusion into rural life. The contrasting characters from urban and rural families are of great importance in coordination with nature and the backdrop in which the novel is set. Interestingly, this title ‘explore the treatment of rural and urban settings in "Cold Comfort Farm" could be perceived as how the rural settings were treated by the characters? Or moreover how did Flora Poste treat the rural settings she encountered at Cold Comfort farm. Considering this novel is a ‘comic classic’ Gibbons provides entertainment and a light -hearted relief from the constant writing of Thomas Hardy and D.H Lawrence’s rural novels. “Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery” (Austen 411) - this quotation from Jane Austen according to Jacqueline Ariel "graces the opening of "Cold Comfort Farm," and holds true to the end" (Ariail 63). Moreover, considering the novel is set in the near future it is imperative to analyse how this affects the settings as a whole. In order to explore the real handling of both rural and urban settings it is vital to analyse the language and imagery and the character’s individual management of the contrasting settings. The primary factor that must be explored is how the traditional English rural novel is compared to Gibbons’ "Cold Comfort Farm." The English regional novel – a term that is most commonly used about the novels of George Eliot, Lawrence’s novels about the Nottingham countryside, and the term can even be stretched to Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, which is set in the Yorkshire moors. While these novels are generally set in England's rural past, it appears that the authors do not solely concentrate on the country, geographically or psychologically. This is evident in the way that Hardy’s characters from the city take part in a transition in farming life. "Cold Comfort Farm" is relative to the transition in the way Flora Poste is alien entering a traditional rural setting and changes the lives of the rural Starkadders. It is clear that in the regional novel place matters, not only in and of itself, but also in contrast to something alien, and generally urban. The origin of the term "the regional novel" came around as England became industrialised. These regional novels are almost nostalgic, reacting to the industrialisation of England and the countryside. This sentimental reaction is quite clearly evident in Flora Poste’s final thoughts on the changes at "Cold Comfort Farm." She see’s the ways in which the Starkadders have been ‘industrialised’ as such, using planes and "ford vans," (Gibbons 425) to move on with their new urban lives. In the common traditional regional novel, it appears the women characters are the ones to feel the "ache of modernism" (Ariail 64). Catherine Earnshaw, Hetty Sorrel, Maggie Tulliver, even Connie Chatterley all evidently want closure with both their urban and rural values. The way in which Gibbon’s portrays her protagonist – Flora Poste however, shows that parodying these other female characters high on her agenda. However, Gibbons does not actually specify any "novels of agricultural life" (Ariail 65), by name it is extremely clear as to which authors she is satirising,