County Derry or Londonderry, as it is also called, contains an uneven mixture of typically Irish scenery and little plantation towns built by the companies of the London Corporation who were given vested Irish land by the Crown.
This was in the hope that they would subjugate and anglicise the county by bringing in English and Scottish settlers.
However, also built by the Corporation, Derry City has a more traditional Irish and less metropolitan atmosphere than Belfast, and bears its gory history with palpable pride and bitterness.
Urban, economic and cultural regeneration has helped to plaster over old sectarian wounds in the city, as new jobs, shops, and pride in local writers and artists have given people a new focus.
The county's north coast has long sandy beaches and the scenic Sperrin Mountains stretch from the Southeast of the county into Tyrone.
