Silver linings : travels around Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has become synonymous with conflict, terrorism and tortuous efforts to forge peace.

But what is life there really like? Martin Fletcher presents a portrait of a Northern Ireland of lakes, rivers and mountains, where customs, traditions and old-world charm survive.

He reveals an incredibly resourceful province which has given the world not just bombs and bullets, but the "Titanic", the tyre and the tractor, a dozen American presidents, two Prime Ministers of New Zealand and a Hindu god.

He describes a God-fearing people, a land of terrible beauty, a battleground of good and evil, a province populated by saints and sinners that has yet to be rendered bland by the forces of modernity.