The West Country

[bednobs]

what would you consider the west country?
I would've said devon and cornwall, at a stretch some of dorset and Somerset
however, when buttering crumpets this morning i note that my butter is made "In the heart of the west country" - Wiltshire!
even at a very big stretch i wouldnt call that the heart of the west country!

[ichkeria]

You are talking about Anchor of course, which comes from Westbury - the Wiltshire Westbury is less "west" than a couple of others I can think of but I'd call Wiltshire the west country relative to many places. Hardly the heart, tho, but then that is marketing for you.

[bednobs]

personally id call wiltshire south central, but what do i know - nothing clearly :)

[pastafreak]

I'd think of Wiltshire as maybe the gateway...certainly not the heart.

[Prudie]

I think it's because there are 9 official regions and south central isn't one. It's either South West or South East and it splits from left to right round about Southampton. So England is divided into 9 geographical regions. These are London, the North East, North West, Yorkshire, East Midlands, West Midlands, South East, East of England and the South West.
SW includes your 4 + Wilts and Gloucs.

[jno]

it's further west than the contented cows who used to make Anchor, I suppose.

[Buenchico]

Wikipedia seems to have covered all of the alternative definitions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Country

[DTCwordfan]

How do you know if the cows are content - it's not exactly the best butter on the market by a country mile, north, west, south or east of Wiltshire.

[jno]

it used to say so in the adverts, DTC. Cows stay outside all year round down under; I don't know what the Wiltshire practice is - probably tucking them up at night with fleece blankets and a bucket of Ovaltine.

[DTCwordfan]

surely that's cannibalism as isn't Ovaltine made using cow-milk? Now we know where Mad Cow's Disease really came from!!

[jno]

I believe cows drink cow's milk from day one. Human babies often do something analogous.

[bednobs]

at the very very best then it's made in the toenails of the west country, not the heart