Northern Ireland is the westernmost and second largest constituent country of the United Kingdom, in the North Atlantic Ocean. It's separated from Great Britain by Saint George's Channel on the southeast, the Irish Sea on the east, and the North Channel on the northeast. Politically, Northern Ireland comprises the six of the nine counties of Ulster: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh Tyrone and Londonderry.
Northern Ireland is a unique blend of hills, bogs, lakes, rivers and remote islands with much of the country in the fertile central and eastern plateau -- almost completely surrounded by low mountains and coastal plains.
County Antrim is most famous for its impressive, undulating landscapes. The countryside at first appears a continuous, brilliant green mat of grasses, but a close look reveals lichen, ferns, rushes, sedges, buttercups, primroses the legendary heather, and of course, shamrocks.
From atop the craggy cliffs above Balleycastle, you'll see Rathlin Island, the northernmost point of Ireland, and across the Irish Sea 16 miles to the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland.
