South East England is one of a nine official regions of England. A todays boundaries include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey & West Sussex. Within most common usage a metropolitan area will widely deviate.

A greatest point of the region is Walbury Hill in Berkshire at 297m/974 ft.

Local government

A area is divided into a charted local government areas:

Counties

Berkshire Buckinghamshire East Sussex Hampshire Isle of Wight Kent Oxfordshire Surrey West Sussex

Unitary Authority Areas

Bracknell Forest (part of Berkshire) Brighton and Hove (formerly section of East Sussex) Medway (formerly section of Kent) Borough of Milton Keynes (formerly section of Buckinghamshire) Portsmouth (formerly section of Hampshire) Reading (part of Berkshire) Slough (part of Berkshire) Southampton (formerly a portion of Hampshire) West Berkshire (part of Berkshire) Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (part of Berkshire) Wokingham (part of Berkshire)

Historical boundaries

Until a late 1990s the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Greater London were also involved for official purposes — excluding London left an locality known as "ROSE" (rest of South East).

Common usage

Around unofficial usage the South East may refer to a variable metropolitan area - every now and again lone to Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, and Surrey or very close to to the London commuter belt or the "Home Counties".

Local dialects

Traditionally a middle class inhabitants of the South East have spoken received pronunciation (also referred to as "RP", BBC English & Queen's English). Present the form of the English language influenced by working class London accents and known as Estuary English is more prevalent in a vicinity, potentially among the higher social classes. A title derives from either a estuary of the River Thames which runs across East London & retiring Essex and Kent, which is the area in which this accent is said to use originated.