Communities in south west Wales have become the latest to log on to one of the most exciting developments on the web.

The BBC's Where I Live community website for the region has been unveiled in an official launch on Friday.

The launch was at the National Botanic Garden

BBC Wales Controller Menna Richards launched the site alongside two other projects - community studios and digital storytelling - at the National Botanic Garden of Wales at Llanarthne in Carmarthenshire.

"What the three projects have in common, is that they give the public a voice on BBC Wales," she said.

"More than that, they encourage people to use new media tools to create content themselves."

This latest site follows the launch of a north east site in March this year and is part of an initiative to make the BBC more accessible for the people of Wales.

The south west studio is based at the refurbished BBC offices in Priory Street, Carmarthen, where people can call in on Wednesday and Friday between 1130 -1530 BST and other times by appointment.

The Where I Live website provides in-depth news and information on the region's weather, travel, sport and events.

Elisabeth Windsor 'Queen' of Tairgwaith

News is one of the main features and the site has covered all of the major events in the area since it went live in May.

As part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations the site featured its very own Elizabeth Windsor.

Mrs Windsor, 73, from Tairgwaith near Ammanford, was guest of honour at the village party on 3 June and said it was great to be "queen for the day".

One of the most dramatic picture events captured by the Where I Live journalists was a blaze at a meat processing factory in Cross Hands.

The blaze at the Dawn Pac factory

The plant caught fire on the night that the Queen visited Carmarthenshire and Neath-Port Talbot.

Workers had to evacuate the Dawn Pac plant.

No-one was hurt but nearly 200 people lost their jobs as a result of the site's subsequent closure.

In the past six months, the region has been hard hit by nearly 2,000 job losses.

Nearly 1,000 of those went with the collapse of ITV Digital which based its call centre in Pembroke Dock.

A further 1,000 jobs have been shed by the Dewhirst ladies wear company, which announced it was pulling out of Wales.

Kite surfer Kirsty Jones at the end of her Irish sea crossing

The clothes manufacturer for Marks and Spencer, announced the closure of its factories in Swansea, Cardigan and Fishguard.

But hopes of a revival in the jobs market were raised by plans to establish a Bluestone holiday village complex providing 600 posts.

On the sports front we featured a banned Pembrokeshire cricketer's bid to clear his name at the High Court.

But the sporting performance of the year was captured by the extreme sports enthusiast Kirsty Jones who became the first person to kite-surf across the Irish sea.

Responding

Site producer Margaret Keenan said the site is growing and changing on a daily basis in response to feedback.

"We have just been overwhelmed by requests to add Spurs footballer Simon Davies, originally from the Solva area, to our Hall of Fame section after Wales's recent international success," she said.

"There are a whole series of debates going on in the Your Say section and an area for people who just want to have a rant.

"There are daily updates on farming news, along with a monthly diary submitted by a local hill farmer."

If you want to let us know about any news item, or an event which you are organising, then e-mail us on wales.southwest@bbc.co.uk