Holiday time in the West Country

The counties of Devon, Cornwall and Somerset are often called the West Country. They have always been popular with holiday-makers, so there are a large number of hotels, caravan- and camping-sites and private houses and farms which offer bed and breakfast. People enjoy going there because of the beautiful countryside, where they can 'get away from it all', and because the coastline offers the best beaches and surfing in England. Also, the weather is usually warmer than in the rest of the country!

The completion of two motorways, the M4 from London and the M5 from Birmingham, has meant that people can travel to the West Country much more easily nowadays. However, the arrival of large numbers of people at certain times of the year (especially at bank holidays, when almost everyone has a day off) often brings chaos to the region's narrow roads. After waiting in a traffic jam several miles long at such notorious bottlenecks as Exeter and Okehampton, you may find the pretty Devon lanes blocked by cars pulling caravans!

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 71