The West Country (Cornish : An Tir West) is a loosely defined area within southwest England, [1] usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. [2] The West Country has a distinctive regional English dialect and accent, [3] and is also home to the Cornish language.
The West Country is bounded by the English Channel to the south and the Atlantic Ocean, Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary to the north. The eastern limit is less clearly defined. [4] [5] [6] [7]
Some definitions match that of the official South West England region. In a 2019 YouGov survey, 72% of respondents considered Cornwall and Devon to be in the West Country, while 70% included Somerset, 69% included Bristol, and 55% included Dorset. Other counties received less than 50% agreement, with 28% including Wiltshire, 27% including Gloucestershire, 12% including Herefordshire and 9% including Worcestershire, though those last two counties are officially part of the West Midlands region. [2]
The term West Country derby is used to refer to sports matches between such cities as Bristol and Bath [8] or Gloucester and Bath. [9]
West Country Lamb and West Country Beef are EU Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) covering products from animals born and reared in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire or Gloucestershire. [10] "West Country Farmhouse Cheddar" is a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) limited to cheddar cheese made in the traditional way in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset or Somerset. [11] [ needs update ]
ITV West Country is an ITV franchise which broadcasts local news, weather and current affairs programmes over two regions; ITV West Country West covering the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon and parts of Dorset and Somerset with ITV West Country East covering the remainder of Somerset and Dorset together with Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. ITV West Country West was an ITV franchise in its own right (ITV Westcountry) until 2014 when it merged with that of ITV West, formerly HTV West, having been initially launched as Westcountry Television with its main studios in Plymouth in 1993.[ citation needed ]
West Country Carnivals are held in many towns in and around Somerset. A government-supported museum, galleries, and major attractions atlas [12] matched the South West Region, save for Gloucestershire.
A former brewery in Cheltenham traded as West Country Ales; their ceramic plaques can still be seen built into pub walls around Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire and parts of Wales. [13]
During Jack Cade's Rebellion in 1450, English chroniclers described an uprising in Wiltshire being carried out by: "the comenys of the weste contre", indicating that in the late medieval period the county was certainly considered by contemporaries to be part of the West Country. [14]
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England in the United Kingdom. It consists of the counties of Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and large towns in the region include Bath, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cheltenham, Exeter, Gloucester, Plymouth and Swindon. It is geographically the largest of the nine regions of England with a land area of 9,203 square miles (23,836 km2), but the third-least populous, with an estimated 5,764,881 residents in 2022.
The Wessex Regionalists is a minor English regionalist political party in the United Kingdom. It seeks a degree of legislative and administrative home rule for Wessex, an area in the south and south-west of England loosely based on the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the same name.
A combe can refer either to a steep, narrow valley, or to a small valley or large hollow on the side of a hill; in any case, it is often understood simply to mean a small valley through which a watercourse does not run.
West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of the West Country, an area found in the southwest of England.
BBC Local Radio is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations.
South West was a combined constituency region of the European Parliament, comprising the South West of England and Gibraltar. Seven, later six, Members of the European Parliament using closed party-list proportional representation allocated using the D'Hondt method of distribution were elected. The constituency was abolished when Britain left the European Union on 31 January 2020.
England is divided by a number of different regional schemes for various purposes. Since the creation of the Government Office Regions in 1994 and their adoption for statistical purposes in 1999, some historical regional schemes have become obsolete. However, many alternative regional designations also exist and continue to be widely used.
Westcountry Live was the flagship regional news programme of ITV Westcountry, serving South West England.
The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is the organisation responsible for providing ambulance services for the National Health Service (NHS) across South West England. It serves the council areas of Bath and North East Somerset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Plymouth, Isles of Scilly, Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, Torbay and Wiltshire.
BBC South West is the BBC English Region serving Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, West Somerset, West Dorset and Channel Islands.
The region of South West England is divided into 58 parliamentary constituencies, which are made up of 16 borough constituencies and 42 county constituencies. Since the general election of July 2024, 24 are represented by Labour MPs, 22 by Liberal Democrat MPs, 11 by Conservative MPs, and 1 by a Green MP.
Scouting in South West England is about Scouting activities in the governmental region of South West England. The largest number of Scouts, volunteer leaders and groups are members of the Scout Association of the United Kingdom while there are some traditional Scouting groups such as the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association. The Scout Association administers the region through 7 Scout Counties, overseen by a regional commissioner, which follow the boundaries of the ceremonial counties they exist within. There are six active student associations at various universities in the region, each of which is affiliated to the Student Scout and Guide Organisation (SSAGO).
ITV News West Country is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV West Country. It is broadcast from studios in Brislington, Bristol, with district reporters and camera crews based in newsrooms at Plymouth, Exeter, Truro, Taunton, Swindon and Gloucester.
The South West Rugby League is a summer rugby league competition for amateur teams in South West England. The competition was formed in 2003 as the RLC South West Regional. Its name changed following the 2012 restructure of amateur rugby league in Great Britain.
Heart West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts in South West England from studios in Bristol.
Headquarters South West is a Colonel's command of the British Army formed to oversee the area of South West England.
