| South West England is one of the regions of England. It is the largest such region in terms of area, and extends from Gloucestershire and Wiltshire to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. This includes the area often known as the West Country, and much 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.
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, and for cider. It is now probably equally well known as the home of the Eden Project, Aardman Animations, the Glastonbury festival, the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, trip hop music, Cornwall's seafood restaurants, and surfing beaches. Two National Parks and four World Heritage Sites fall within the region's boundaries.
Education
Somerset, the former area of Avon, Swindon and Cornwall have comprehensive schools. The other counties have some selective schools. Gloucestershire has 6, Wiltshire has 2 (in Salisbury), Poole has 2, Bournemouth has 2, Devon has 1, Plymouth has 2 and Torbay has 3. In the top ten schools in the south west, by A level results, all ten are selective schools.
At GCSE, Gloucestershire performs the best, followed by Poole and Bath & North East Somerset (both equal), then Dorset. Also above the UK average are Wiltshire, North Somerset, and Devon. The South West performs well at GCSE, with the only exception being the City of Bristol which is very low performing.
At A level, Bournemouth performs the best by far. Gloucestershire again performs well, closely followed by Wiltshire. Also above average is Torbay and North Somerset. At A level, the South West is not quite as well performing as other areas. Plymouth performs the worst. |
