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The West Country

The West Country is an informal term for the area of southwestern England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It encompasses the counties of Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, while the counties of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are usually included, and definitions sometimes include even wider areas. The area is mostly rural, with only a few notable cities, such as Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth, plus Swindon and Gloucester. Tourism and agriculture, especially dairy farming, play a significant role in the economy. The landscape is principally granite moorland in the west, and chalk and limestone downland and clay vales in the east. Historically, tin mining and the fishery were sources of income and employment, but less so today, although the latter still contributes to the economy. The region is most famous for its production of cider, clotted cream and pasties.

As with any informal area, its boundaries are difficult to define. For example, the further west one goes, the more the region becomes culturally distinct from neighbouring South East England.^{[citation needed]} It is often difficult to define a county as being "West Country" when it is a popular destination for commuters, but it is important to look at the lifestyle and dialects of the true residents before making an informed decision.

Cornwall especially has a distinct view on the exclusivity of what defines a West Country county; it was never truly conquered by Saxon Wessex. In 722 the Cornish joined forces with their friends and allies, the Vikings; together the Cornish and Vikings destroyed an Anglo-Saxon army at "Hehil"; somewhere around modern day Padstow. To this day, some natives of Cornwall do not consider themselves English (see Constitutional status of Cornwall, Cornish self-government movement, and Cornish people).

The West Country is sometimes associated with the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and Wessex Regionalists seek to promote this as an alternative to the South-West region. Wessex includes the adjacent counties in central southern England; Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight. These movements, as they do not include Cornwall, are generally supported by Cornish nationalists. The Welsh traditional county of Monmouthshire is also considered part of the region by some people.

The West Country Clothing District was an area that made woollen cloth, but only part of the region described above. It covered east Somerset and parts of the counties of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and at some periods extended into Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The clothing district around Tiverton and Exeter in Devonshire and west Somerset tended to make different kinds of cloth and is best regarded as distinct.

• Bristol
• Cornwall
  • Isles of Scilly
• Devon
  • Plymouth
  • Torbay
• Dorset
  • Bournemouth
  • Poole
• Gloucestershire
  • South Gloucestershire
• Somerset
  • Bath and North East Somerset
  • North Somerset
• Wiltshire
  • Swindon

(See county pages for more.) (Cities in bold.)

• Avebury
• Bodmin Moor
• Cherhill White Horse
• Dartmoor
• Exmoor
• Glastonbury Tor
• Jurassic Coast
• Mendip Hills, including Cheddar Gorge and Caves
• South West Coast
• Stonehenge
• West Country Carnival

(See county pages for more.)

• South West England
• Wessex
• West of England
• United Kingdom
• Scrumpy and Western music
• Thomas Hardy (West Country novelist)
• West Country dialects
• Constitutional status of Cornwall
• England
• Southern England
• UK topics

This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.