No matter if you're a fan of the region who loves to visit, are lucky enough to live here, or have a business that benefits from being based in the region - you can show support for the South West of England by adding your voice to our South West Stories campaign. Details of the celebrities who've already submitted their stories are below.
From insider tips on the best food experiences to cutting-edge design and business innovation, from memorable characters to quirky adventures, we're inviting you to share your real-life stories with us. We'd like to hear how the region has inspired, surprised, changed or supported you, how being here has made a difference to your life or business. You never know - we could even use your story when promoting the region as the perfect place to visit, live and be successful in business.
Getting involved
Simply e-mail your details to us using the link below. You should tell us:
i) Your name, contact details and any pertinent information about yourself or business.
ii) Your story in a maximum of 200 words or so.
Email us with your South West Story
Why should I submit a story?
If you're a business, it's simple, you'll be taking advantage of the region's multi-million pound awareness campaign to help raise the profile of your own business, and at the same time supporting the region that provides you with skilled and motivated staff, a strong culture of innovation and enterprise, and a natural environment that keeps you fresh and inspired. You probably live here as well, so the next bit applies to you too...
If you live here, it's about sharing a passion for your patch, and expressing a healthy pride in who you are. Your experiences might help someone unfamiliar with the region begin to share your passion, leading to investment in the region through business or tourism, and new opportunities for profit and friendship, helping maintain our exceptional quality of life...
If you're a friend of or visitor to the region then it's about being part of a community of people who appreciate our natural and cultural envirnonment. We're also going to be selecting the 'best' story and giving that person an unforgettable taste of the best of the South West, ticking off all the boxes - luxury, relaxation, adventure, nature and living heritage, no doubt resulting in a few more great South West Stories!
If your story is used, then this means it could appear anywhere, anytime, anyplace. Our campaign to raise awareness of South West England is conducted in the UK and a number of overseas markets, our campaigns include advertising in press, online and outdoor, direct mail, websites, PR and a host of other activities. By sending us your story you're agreeing that you're perfectly happy for us to use your story when promoting the region, and happy for our marketing team to get in touch to chat over any details, so thanks for that!
Celebrity South West Stories - click on the links below to read their story
Michael Caines
Tim Smit
Oliver Azam
Chris Beardshaw
Deborah Meaden
Rory MacLean
Michael Caines
A tasty tale
Waking up at home in Devon is my favourite place to be. Having grown up in Exeter I relish the opportunity I now have to live in the county in which I was born while working in a job I am hugely passionate about.
Although a desire to be near family and friends was my primary motivation for locating to the South West, the region has proved to be a critical ingredient in my success. Thanks to early springs and late summers, the prevalence of small-holdings rather than large co-operatives and lush pastures, the wealth of natural produce available is unparalleled. In my opinion, the South West boasts the best larder in Britain and Europe.
More importantly though, people here are interested in food, which serves as both inspiration for and a platform to my personal and business aspirations. Whatever the industry though, the lifestyle in the South West is conducive to creative talent and there is a fantastic spirit here for developing businesses.
Of course the best bit of living and working in Devon is the surroundings - for me, home is my haven. The work/life balance here is, I believe, unparalleled and there is nowhere else on Earth I would rather be.
Tim Smit
The Eden Project
On December 14th 1987 I moved to Cornwall. I was a composer then and I came to build a recording studio, but circumstances would dramatically change my life when I chanced upon the derelict gardens that would one day become the Lost Gardens of Heligan. As those gardens developed a story of their own, their influence remained with me and helped to shape my idea for the Eden Project.
I am convinced to this day that my dream of Eden would never have been realised if I had been in London. Aside from the obvious lack of space, life in the capital and other great metropolitan centres is fast and furious and quiet voices have to struggle to be heard.
The benefit of living and working somewhere you can meet and have access to everyone who can effect your dreams is immeasurable. During the planning for the Eden Project for example, the way that the parish councils, district councils, then the county councils got behind us was marvellous. Their show of support prompted the involvement of government agencies and the media, and the rest - as they say - is history.
Olivier Azam 
Food, glorious food!
I've lived in Cheltenham for six years now, since moving to play rugby for Gloucester Rugby Club in 2000. Gloucestershire holds many great memories for me; winning the Powergen Cup in 2003, having a laugh at team training sessions and visiting beautiful Cotswold villages.
Food is a real passion of mine, and one that I have wholly indulged since moving to the South West! I love travelling out to the great pubs and restaurants throughout the Cotswolds, tasting the local produce and enjoying the picturesque scenery.
An old team mate of mine, Lauren Guntert came to visit me in Cheltenham last Halloween and loved the area so much that he never left. He shares my appreciation of food and in fact owns a restaurant in Clermont, France. He saw the potential Cheltenham offered for a similar venture and when he suggested that we open our own restaurant I jumped at the chance.
I am committed to supporting local produce and source all of my fresh bread, vegetables, meat and fish from suppliers in South West England and combine this with deliveries of cheese, wine, herbs and duck from South West France. In my mind, there's no better place to be a food lover than in the South West - better known as 'Britain's larder.'
Chris Beardshaw 
A favourite day at the beach
It was a bright summers day on the north Devon coast. We had just finished primary school for the day and were roaming through fields of dairy cattle, listening for the sound of the waves crashing on shingle as we made our way down to the beach.
With the sand between our toes we combed the coastline for driftwood that could be used in the crafting of rafts. Soon the ultimate prize washed into sight. An old wooden door, battered and bruised by its travels at sea, rode in on the crest of a foaming breaker and tumbled unceremoniously onto the shingle bank.
Shouting stories of pirates and shipwrecks we dragged our raft into the water and climbed aboard, expertly guiding it out past breaking point. And then the fun began - paddling with flailing arms towards the waves, surfing the swelling slopes in a perfect line, slicing through the rushing water.
Our frolics continued well into the evening; wave after wave was ridden, until the light completely disappeared from the sky. Cold, hungry and exhausted, we at last cast our faithful board into the receding sea to carry on its own adventure. I thought then, and I still think it now: what better end can there be to an English summers day?
Deborah Meaden 
A hub for business
Home to stunning coastline, rolling countryside and picturesque villages it is easy to see why the South West is England's most popular tourist destination. What people perhaps don't realise is that these attributes also make South West England one of the best places in the UK to do business.
My background in Leisure and Tourism made the South West a logical base for my business, and it is one that has provided me with a great deal of success. In my opinion, the biggest asset to working and living in the South West is the choice it offers.
I, for example, make the most of my time in London and have a very busy and active work and social schedule while I'm there. This makes the feeling of relaxation that I get as soon as I go home all the more satisfying. However, there was also a time when the hub of my business activity was in Devon and my work life was pacy, vibrant, and far from relaxing - same region, different choice.
Being based in South West England - whether its for work or play - gives you the freedom to decide on the lifestyle you want. Opportunities are out there for you to enjoy as much or as little excitement, activity and stimulation as you like. It means you are close to amazing people and amazing places at all times and you have the freedom to choose how much or how little you partake in. In short, it means you are living or working in one very special place.
Rory MacLean
My psychic South West
Thirty years ago, as a young Canadian on holiday in the UK, I happened upon the Knowlton Circles near Wimborne Minster. Immediately I was enchanted by the spot - three ancient henge-circles on which stand a ruined Norman church - and I lay down on the soft grass and fell into a deep sleep.
I didn't know at the time that many early Christian churches had been built on the sites of older pagan monuments, nor that Knowlton was, and still is, said to be haunted. In my dreams a laughing, white-haired local man appeared before me, telling me of his travels to distant lands and his love for Dorset. 'We will meet again' he told me.
The dream was so vivid, and the stranger so alive, that many times over the intervening years I returned to Knowlton in the hope of seeing him again. Now, I live in Dorset, not far from the Cranborne Chase, and with my own hair turning grey and many travels behind me, I've begun to wonder if the curious, laughing stranger was, in fact me.
