You may not be 100% sure which specific areas define the West Country… but you’re likely to recognise the distinctive West Country accent when you hear it. Just sing a few lines of The Wurzels’ monster hit, The Combine Harvester, for proof!
Along with several unique places to visit (and stay!) you might also recognise some of the delicious food and drink exclusively produced in the West Country. These include the mouth-watering West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, which can only bear the name if it’s made in the traditional way, in Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, or Somerset.
Those counties should offer a clue as to the specific areas covered by the West Country, though they also include all or parts of Bristol, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire.
Bordered by the English Channel, the Bristol Channel, the Severn Estuary, and the Atlantic Ocean, the West Country offers an ideal holiday setting for beach-lovers and water-sports enthusiasts alike… as well as being spectacularly beautiful, Newquay’s Fistral Beach is an unrivalled surfing destination.
Oh, and if you’re travelling in November, be sure to catch the West Country Carnival – a spectacular series of processions that originated from the time of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.
Come and browse our best West Country stays, and get to know the region a little better!
Author: Nina Jervis
Main image: Honeydown, Devon
