For centuries Devon and Cornwall have been split by an intense rivalry over their distinctive charms, their inhabitants arguing over anything from whether jam or clotted cream goes first on a scone to which one invented the pastie.

And that’s before they move on to who has the best coastline or the finest towns and villages.

But relations between the two are set to hit a new low with the discovery that some of the area’s most devoted fans cannot tell one from the other.

For it seems that German tourists, who flock to the south west in their thousands every year, think the county of Devon is just part of Cornwall.

The man in charge of promoting Britain as a holiday destination for the Germans has revealed that while they are enthusiastic fans of Cornwall’s charms, few realise Devon - never mind Dorset and Somerset - is a separate entity.