New LP for England's south-west

A brand new Lonely Planet guidebook has been released for Devon, Cornwall and the south-west of England, pointing to the region's regeneration as a trendy holiday destination.

Once dismissed by urbanites as a cultural backwater, the south-west is now seen as an eco-haven, a creative trendsetter, a culinary paradise and an outdoor playground.

Proud home of the Eden Project and Britain's first plastic bag-free town (Modbury), counties such as Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall are also touting their environmentally-friendly holiday credentials.

The guide is one of the first Lonely Planets to include a Greendex - a new reference index of attractions, tours, restaurants and accommodation that are considered sustainable.

Cornwall is described as "one of Britain's most creative corners, a place where you can feed you brain, your appetite and your soul all at once".

Dorset is apparently the "essence of England" with its "lush, rippling chessboard of fields sprinkled with ancient villages and fringed by a silver sea".

The only sour notes sounded are the spiralling property prices, community-destroying second-homers and the region's "love-hate relationship" with the summer influx of tourists.