South West England is one of nine official regions of England. It is the largest such region in area, covering 9,200 square miles (23,828 km2) and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Five million people live in South West England.
The region includes the area often known as the West Country and much of the ancient kingdom of Wessex. The size of the region is shown by the fact that the northern part of Gloucestershire, near Chipping Campden, is as close to the Scottish border as it is to the tip of Cornwall. The largest city is Bristol. Other major urban centres include Plymouth, Swindon, Gloucester, Exeter, Bath, and the South East Dorset conurbation of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. All counties either include at least one unitary authority or are unitary authorities themselves, as is the case with Cornwall and the Unitary Authority of Bristol. The region has 8 cities: Salisbury, Bath, Wells, Bristol, Gloucester, Exeter, Plymouth and Truro. It includes two National Parks and four World Heritage Sites, including Stonehenge.
The region is used for statistical analysis, being at the first level of NUTS for Eurostat purposes. Key data and facts about the region are produced by the South West Observatory. Following the abolition of the South West Regional Assembly and Government Office, some local government co-ordination across the region is now undertaken by South West Councils.
Traditionally, the South West of England has been well known for producing Cheddar cheese, which originated in the Somerset village of Cheddar, for Devon cream teas, crabs, Cornish pasties, and for cider. It is also well known as the home of the Eden Project, Aardman Animations, the Glastonbury Festival, the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, trip hop music and also Cornwall's surfing beaches.
Read more about South West England: Geography, Demographics, Language, Economy and Industry, Subdivisions, South West Regional Assembly, Politics, Local Media
Famous quotes containing the words south, west and/or england:
“The South is very beautiful but its beauty makes one sad because the lives that people live here, and have lived here, are so ugly.”
—James Baldwin (19241987)
“Every man is in a state of conflict, owing to his attempt to reconcile himself and his relationship with life to his conception of harmony. This conflict makes his soul a battlefield, where the forces that wish this reconciliation fight those that do not and reject the alternative solutions they offer. Works of art are attempts to fight out this conflict in the imaginative world.”
—Rebecca West (18921983)
“Forced from home, and all its pleasures,
Africs coast I left forlorn;
To increase a strangers treasures,
Oer the raging billows borne.
Men from England bought and sold me,
Paid my price in paltry gold;
But, though theirs they have enrolld me,
Minds are never to be sold.”
—William Cowper (17311800)