taken in the former ochre quarry in Southern France, called "Provencal Colorado". A bed of precious ochre that kept the families fed that exploited the quarry for over a century from 1871, when Jean Allemand set up the first ochre-washing works in the country. (There are 25 different colours on the site!) At the peak of its activity, in 1929, the ochre industry produced 40,000 ton of pigment, of which a considerable amount came from Rustrel. The last man to work the ochre bed in Rustrel retired in 1992 and only one company, the ?Société des Ochres de France?, still exploits the ochre at Gargas in the Apt region. ?Progress? means that chemical colourings have tolled the death knell of ochre exploitation and turned the Provençal Colorado into a pleasant place to go for a walk. With no nostalgia for the old days? the contrast between the red ochre and white chalk is amazing;