Rural respondents in the (English) Rural Lifestyles Project frequently denied rural "deprivation" through representations of rural areas as problem-free and idyllic, portrayals of deprivation as an individual fault, and constructions of deprivation as an urban feature. Argues that normative constructions of "deprivation" obscure lived experience in rural areas, while discourses of "the rural" may conceal deprivation. (SV)