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. The world knows that 'the Mountains o' Mourne sweep down to the sea' - at Newcastle. The sea itself invades the land, forming the great bird sanctuary and yachting paradise of Strangford Lough. St Patrick sailed into the lough in A.D. 432 and eventually died - at Downpatrick. The Ards Peninsula with it's rolling drumlins and protected coves forms a shelter for the waters of Strangford Lough.

Patrick Bronte, whose three daughters became great novelists, inspired them by tales of his youth in the Bann Valley. The quiet river valley from Banbridge to Rathfriland is nowadays called The Bronte Country. Here 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.