Traveling Tuesday: Britian's Regions, Part 1

Traveling Tuesday: England’s Regions

Before the establishment of districts in the 1890s, the basic unit of local government in England was the parish, overseen by the parish church vestry committee that deal with both parochial and secular governmental matters (Wikipedia). The current system which was created through 1965 and 1972 legislation divides England into nine regions: South West, South East, Greater London, East of England, West Midlands, East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, North West, and North East, and forty-eight ceremonial counties. Please note that unlike US spelling of Southeast, Southwest, etc. Britain separates the two words.

Today we’ll take a brief journey to four of those regions:

Photo: Pixabay/Dr. Horst-Dieter Donat

South West: With a land area of 9,203 square miles, the South West region is the largest of the nine. It also has the longest coastline of any of the regions. It contains two national parks: Dartmoor and Exmoor and four World Heritage Site: Stonehenge (boasting more than 1.3 million annual visitors), the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, the Jurassic Coast, and the City of Bath. Geographically diverse, the region is home to rocky coastlines, high moorlands, flat clay vales, and chalk and limestone downs (from the Celtic word “dun” meaning fort). Mostly rural and dotted with small villages and towns inhabited by fewer than 10,000 residents, the region boast six universities: University of Bristol, University of The West of England (UWE), University of Exeter, University of Plymouth, Plymouth Marjon University, University of Gloucestershire, and Falmouth University. The largest city is Bristol with an estimated population of 700,000. Actors Cary Grant and Michael Redgrave, writer Agatha Christie, and explorer/privateer Francis Drake are from the South West Region.

South East: With its close proximity to London, South East has the second largest economy (behind

Photo: Pixabay/Ad Vertentie

London), and the largest population with almost 9.4 million people as of 2022. Its coastline along the English Channel provides access to mainland Europe via ferry. There are large swaths of countryside within the region, and it is home to many well-known sites such as Blenheim Palace, Windsor Castle, Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, and the White Cliffs of Dover. Several universities can be found within the region, the most famous being University of Oxford. The area played important roles during WWII being home to RAF Bomber Command and Bletchley Park. Writer H.G. Wells, actor Laurence Olivier, and ballet dancer Margot Fontaine are from the South East Region.

Photo: Pixabay/Pedro Alvarez

Greater London: Despite its relatively small area compared to the other regions (607 square miles), Greater London has a population of more than 8.8 million residents. The most definitive geographic feature is the River Thames, the second longest river in England at 215 miles. According to one site, London is divided into 74 Parliamentary constituencies, which are all small borough constituencies. They are formed from the combined area of several wards from one or more London Boroughs. Another site indicates that a January 2005 survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that there were more than 300 languages spoken and more than 50 non-indigenous communities with a population of more than 10,000. University of London, University College London, King’s College London, Imperial College, and Queen Mary University of London are just a few of the higher education institutions in the city. Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, actors Michael Caine and Charlie Chaplin, and writer Charles Dickens are from London.

Photo: Pixabay/summer_kwak

East of England: The East of England region consists of the counties to the north and north-east of London. With a population of more than 6.6 million people, the region is home to several large cities such as Norwich, Colchester, and Cambridge. Twenty percent of the region is below sea level and contains extensive glacial deposits. The Fens is a large area of reclaimed marshland. East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom, with average annual rainfall ranging from 18 to 30 inches. Intriguingly, the winters are variable, sometimes cool, and other times quite cold with significant snowfall. The region is home to many historic monuments and sites including Hatfield House, Woburn Abbey, St. Alban’s Cathedral, and the colleges of Cambridge. WWI nurse Edith Cavell, economist John Maynard Keynes, and prime minister Margaret Thatcher are from the East of England region.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your virtual journey. Stop by next Tuesday to visit the remaining districts.

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A Lesson in Love (Strength of His Heart Anthology)

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

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