diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f2a9ae8469..cbc0f715a1 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ install:
 # i.e. There should be no DownloadWarning reports in the log.
   - python -c 'import cartopy; cartopy.io.shapereader.natural_earth()'
 
-# iris test data
+# download iris test data
   - >
     if [[ "$TEST_MINIMAL" != true ]]; then
       wget --quiet -O iris-test-data.zip https://github.com/SciTools/iris-test-data/archive/${IRIS_TEST_DATA_REF}.zip;
@@ -97,17 +97,16 @@ install:
       mv "iris-test-data-${IRIS_TEST_DATA_SUFFIX}" iris-test-data;
     fi
 
-# set config paths
-  - >
-    SITE_CFG=lib/iris/etc/site.cfg;
-    echo "[Resources]" > $SITE_CFG;
-    echo "test_data_dir = $(pwd)/iris-test-data/test_data" >> $SITE_CFG;
-    echo "doc_dir = $(pwd)/docs/iris" >> $SITE_CFG;
-    echo "[System]" >> $SITE_CFG;
-    echo "udunits2_path = $PREFIX/lib/libudunits2.so" >> $SITE_CFG;
+# install iris itself
 
   - python setup.py --quiet install
 
+# set test data path
+  - export OVERRIDE_TEST_DATA_REPOSITORY=$(pwd)/iris-test-data/test_data
+
+# show config in action
+  - python -c "import iris.config; print(iris.config.TEST_DATA_DIR)"
+
   # JUST FOR NOW : Install latest version of iris-grib.
   # TODO : remove when iris doesn't do an integration test requiring iris-grib.
   - if [[ "$TEST_MINIMAL" != true && ${TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION} == 2* ]]; then