County Armagh (Contae Ard Mhacha in Irish) is a county in Ulster. It is the smallest of the six counties that form Northern Ireland.

County Armagh is known as the Orchard County because the land is so fertile for apple-growing.

Its main town is Armagh, in the middle of the county, although Lurgan and Portadown, in the north if the county, each have larger populations.

The county borders Lough Neagh to the north, County Down to the east, County Tyrone to the north-west, and counties Louth and Monaghan, both in the Republic of Ireland, to the south and south-west respectively find out more about -

Armagh, Bessbrook, Criagavon, Crossmaglen, Cullyhanna, Forkhill, Jonesborough, Keady, Killy Lea, Loughgall, Lurgen, Market Hill, Milltown, Portadown, Richhill, Tandragee

Unless you approach Belfast from the sea you cannot help but come upon the city suddenly because of its fine setting: a 'Hibernian Rio' as one writer has called it, ringed by high hills, sea lough and river valley.

Today the city and the river front are again being transformed. Much of the city centre is now pleasantly pedestrianized, with benches where you can sit and listen to the street musicians.

There are many exuberant Victorian and Edwardian buildings with elaborate sculptures over doors and windows. Stone-carved heads of gods and poets, scientists, kings and queens peer down from the high ledges of banks and old linen warehouses.

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Northern Ireland is a country of beauty and variety; and no part of it combines so much of each in so neat and compact an area as the heart of Down.

Co Down is a concentration of delights for which you would motor many miles in other places - firm, clean beaches; shoals of sea fish and rivers full of game and coarse fish; championship-standard golf; two superb forest parks; two cathedrals; castles and gardens: boating. bird-watching, walking and pony trekking.

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Co Down

The intermittent barking of a raven from the limestone cliffs or an occasional visit from a circumspect whooper swan is likely to be the only encounter of the non-piscatorial kind because Fermanagh is still wonderfully empty of crowds.

If you are not fishing or cruising or enjoying the water in one way or another there is plenty to do in Fermanagh.

Major attractions are the Marble Arch Caves, where you can take a 90 minute guided tour which includes an underground boat trip on a subterranean lake and exploration of stalactites and stalagmites in these underwater caves

Two superb stately homes, both in National Trust care and open from April to September.

Castle Coole, the Palladian mansion house designed by Jarnes Wyatt for the Earl of Belmore at Enniskillen, was completed in 1796. It contains magnificent woodwork, fireplaces, furniture and a library.

Florence Court, seat of the Earls of Enniskillen, has sumptuous rococo plasterwork; in the gardens is the original Florence Court yew tree (taxus baccata fastigiata) now found all over the world.

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Co Fermanagh

Londonderry or City of Derry, as it is now called, is one of N. Ireland's cities.

It has a historic background and makes it well worth a visit, the Walls of Derry have withstood several sieges in their time and guided tours are available.

In the county you will find Benone Beach with miles of golden sand, the immensely popular Portstewart seaside town and beach, museums, National Trust properties and all sorts of outdoor activities from fishing to hang gliding.

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Co Londonderry

Northern Ireland's two main motorways strike out west from Belfast, skirting Lough Neagh 'that noble sheet of water' to the north and the south.

To the north the M2 heads towards the Sperrins, while the M1 will bring you to the windswept moors of county Tyrone

Apart from Omagh, the county town, Cookstown (famous for its sausages) and Dungannon the landscape is almost empty of men but rich in prehistoric and Celtic remains.

About one thousand standing stones are a testament to the Stone Age people who passed this way.

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Co Tyrone