Beautiful though many of the villages of Ireland undoubtedly are, they are also working, living communities. The vibrancy and warmth in a village bar or local shop proclaim a culture not yet submerged under mass tourism or the rash of vacation homes that have blighted so many of Europe's prettiest villages and robbed them of traditional ways.

Following the divisions of the ancient provinces — Ulster, Leinster, Connacht, and Munster — the journey is full of fascinating rural gems, some famous and others less well known. There are the coastal villages of Cork with their handsome houses of many hues sloping down to a sea that so many Irish crossed to found other communities in the United States. Roscommon and Galway are proud of their medieval churches, while Ulster villages look toward the Atlantic and seem to be girding themselves against the rigors of the northern climate. Literary and historical associations abound, as in Ardagh, site of pre-Christian settlement and the place where Oliver Goldsmith was inspired to write She Stoops to Conquer.

The latest volume in the best-selling Most Beautiful Villages series, this extraordinary visual and verbal record of the Irish village is completed by a guide to the most important sites, markets, hotels, and restaurants.

Christopher Fitz-Simon's previous books include The Arts in Ireland, The Irish Theater, and The Irish Village. Hugh Palmer is one of Britain's foremost photographers of rural life, whose previous books include many titles in the Most Beautiful Villages series.

ISBN 0-500-01998-3 · 10 ¹/₄" x 12 ¹/₂" · 258 color illustrations · 208 pages · TRAVEL / PHOTOGRAPHY