West Country

The following counties are generally considered to form the West Country:

• 🌍 Bath (Somerset) – With hot springs that have attracted visitors for 2000 years, Bath is, according to its double UNESCO listing, one of the great spa towns of Europe. Marvel at the Roman baths, stroll the Regency resort or take a dip in the curative waters of Sulis.
• 🌍 Bournemouth (Dorset) – A buzzing beach town with something for all ages, where retirement homes abut student halls and everyone spends their weekends on the sand.
• 🌍 Bristol – Once a bustling medieval port, the South West's biggest city is both fashionable and colourful, while enjoying interesting topography and a world-famous bridge
• 🌍 Exeter (Devon) – Devon's county town is blessed with a stunning cathedral and an enviable location between Dartmoor and the sea
• 🌍 Gloucester (Gloucestershire) – The UK's furthest inland port on its longest river; yet another cathedral city with Roman and Medieval credentials
• 🌍 Plymouth (Devon) – The "Spirit of Discovery" invites you to the place where the pilgrims of the Mayflower set sail for the New World
• 🌍 Salisbury (Wiltshire) – "New Sarum" boasts England's tallest cathedral spire, a magnificent structure that evokes the great churches of the Continent
• 🌍 Truro (Cornwall) – Cornwall's compact and pretty capital sits at the heart of the Duchy. Its narrow streets make it pedestrian-friendly and easily walkable
• 🌍 Wells (Somerset) – More of a large village than a city, Wells' gorgeousness packs a punch far greater than its size. This most English of settlements surrounds a justifiably famous cathedral

• 🌍 Cotswolds (Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire) – rolling countryside and chocolate box villages make one of England's most iconic areas of outstanding natural beauty. The region also extends into the South East and West Midlands.

• 🌍 Dartmoor National Park (Devon) – windswept moors and lonely tors (peaks) that have inspired legend and literature for centuries.

• 🌍 Exmoor National Park (Devon, Somerset) – the heathland home of the hardy Exmoor ponies and Great Britain's highest sea cliffs.

• 🌍 Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire) – the "Queen of Forests" hugs the Welsh border and is ideal for hiking, biking, fishing and canoeing.

• 🌍 Jurassic Coast (Dorset, eastern Devon) – the birthplace of palaeontology and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where you can dig fossils out of the beach with your plastic bucket and spade.

• 🌍 Land's End – where Cornwall tumbles into the Atlantic Ocean, and sells a part of its soul to mass tourism.

• 🌍 Lundy – a rugged and very scenic island off the north Devon coast, home to 20 people, thousands of seabirds and a surprisingly rich history.

• 🌍 Stonehenge (Wiltshire) – the most famous prehistoric stone circle in the world is a joint UNESCO World Heritage Site with 🌍 Avebury, a village built amongst standing stones about 20 miles to the north.

The exact boundary of the West Country is unclear and often a source of heated debate between the different counties, most of which have strong identities. Some definitions exclude Gloucestershire, while others embrace the likes of Herefordshire and Hampshire.

Most of the West Country once formed part of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and Wessex remains to this day a cultural region with which some locals identify. The people of Cornwall sometimes consider themselves separate from both the West Country and England, due to their ancient Celtic heritage.

What can be said is that it is an area that shares many interesting cultural similarities, from accent and dialect, to a shared agricultural and fishing heritage, and a readiness to accept witches, pagans and other freethinkers that might not fit in elsewhere.

West Country people are widely seen as warm, welcoming, forgiving and easygoing folk, and certainly this reputation has helped enhance the tourism industry. Other aspects of the culture include an almost religious obsession with strong farm-produced cider. Many folk songs about the juice of the apple are widely known and will be readily performed by local musicians, in a style jokingly referred to as "Scrumpy & Western" with the most famous band of this genre being The Wurzels.

The West Country is known for its distinctive accents, which vary from county to county, but share many common traits, most notably rhoticity — i.e. the R in words like "butter" and "farm" is pronounced the same as in "rabbit" or "arrange" — a feature shared with most Scottish, Irish, Canadian and American accents, but in contrast to most accents from elsewhere in England. In media, you may recognise these accents from Robert Newton's seminal portrayal of Long John Silver in the 1950 film adaptation of Treasure Island, or else as similar to those used by Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings or Rubeus Hagrid in Harry Potter.

Cornish, a Celtic language related to Welsh, is spoken by a tiny minority in Cornwall; see the county article for details.

• Stonehenge, One of the world's most famous prehistoric monuments, located in the county of Wiltshire.
• Chalk figures – the grassy chalk downland of eastern parts of the region has long been used as a canvas for huge white figures - most often human figures or horses. Many of these are centuries old with obscure origins. Famous examples in the region include the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset and the Westbury White Horse in Wiltshire.
• Roman Baths in Bath, a Roman spa complex constructed on hot springs and now a museum.
• The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape — a UNESCO World Heritage site
• The Jurassic Coast (East Devon coast and Dorset cost)

The South West with its long coastline is a haven for tourists and so many tourist attractions can be found here. Eastern Dorset has a number of popular seaside resorts, the biggest of which is Bournemouth. The 'Jurassic Coast' (so named for the abundant dinosaur and prehistoric fossils found along the beaches) runs through western Dorset and eastern Devon. The Cornish coast is famous for its mining heritage, fishing villages and surfing beaches. One of that county's most popular modern attractions is the Eden Project in St Austell, huge glass biomes containing plants from across the Earth.

Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks are popular for outdoor activities including hiking, climbing, mountain biking and pony trekking.

Other attractions include the two Crealy Great Adventure Parks in Devon and Cornwall.

Local specialities include:

• Clotted cream - Popular throughout the region, especially in Devon and Cornwall. This extremely thick and fatty cream is served with cakes, most often with a rich berry jam on fruit scones as part of a cream tea.
• Cheddar - A popular cheese named after Cheddar in Somerset.
• Cornish pasty - A regional food of Cornwall.
• Somerset casserole -Meat or a meaty fish cooked in cider with potatoes, onions and mushrooms.
• Seafood - a lot of it! Lyme Bay crab, Brixham fish soup, stargazy pie, Cornish mussels, mackerel in mustard sauce... And there are wet fishmongers and markets all over the region.
• Wiltshire cured ham
• Tewkesbury mustard - A variety of mustard named after the town of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.
• Dorset apple cake

The region is most famous for the production of farmhouse cider (nationally known as a "scrumpy"). This is generally assumed to be alcoholic (and frequently much stronger than supermarket cider!) and apple-based, although perry from pears and ciders from other fruits are also produced.

The rural West Country is generally an extremely safe area with low crime rates – the sort of place where locals may leave houses unlocked, although of course this is not advised; and as usual, towns and cities should be treated with more vigilance.

Drive carefully! Perhaps the biggest potential danger for a visitor is on the country roads, which are frequently narrow, with very poor visibility as they wind between high hedges, and always the risk of a tractor, horse rider or cyclist around the next corner.

In addition, the highlands of Dartmoor, Exmoor etc. can be very exposed to bad weather, so although they are not particularly mountainous in sheer height or relief, they should be treated with similar respect. Similarly, all usual respect should be paid to coastline safety as the sea can be rough and many opportunities exist for getting cut off by the tide.

When West Country people are portrayed in media, several tropes are frequently used. Either they're simple country folk — usually farmers or fishermen — or they're pirates, or similar roguish outlaws. These portrayals have a basis in historical reality; the soil and the sea are important to the local economy, while the South West has always harboured alternative lifestyles and an independent spirit. It also won't escape your notice when visiting that the tropes are often played up in the region for tourists.

However, don't forget that these are stereotypes which not all locals are comfortable with, and many may take offence at the implications: the "oo-ar" farmer and rum-soaked sailor are lovable and hard-grafting, but essentially dim-witted; pirates, smugglers and highwaymen might be romantic and certainly not lacking in brains, but they are still violent criminals.

• London is about two hours drive from Bristol, and considerably further from the rest of the region.
• Swansea and the Gower Peninsula are around 90 minutes from Bristol.