Aussie Andy,
Where are you flying to here in the South West?
There are some really nice small strips, but we also have a lot of larger airfields (especially old WW2 military) that are often ignored by GA. One example is Newquay/RAF St Mawgan. I regularly fly into there on behalf of a flying school I work for, and it is often very quiet, excellent parking, helpful staff, fuel readily available - very close to the beach <g>.
That may sound like an advert but i promise I have nothing to do with them <g>