Monaghan is first and foremost drumlin country. Drumlins are softly rounded mounds of land left by retreating glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age, and the exceptional number of these small hills packed together in County Monaghan serves as a very good example of what textbooks call "basket of eggs" topography - a reference to the land's appearance from on high; at ground level the soil is poor and the land is broken up into small units which are difficult and uneconomic to farm. The drumlins are grass-covered, and light hedgerows stitch their way across them, marking out the fields. Initially it's a charming scene, but it soon becomes repetitive: the pathways between drumlins are pretty enough, but once you're round or over one small hill the next is much the same. Little lakes provide occasional relief and are excellent for fishing, but they're nothing like as numerous as in Cavan.

The feel of this countryside has been captured in the poetry and prose of Patrick Kavanagh, rated by many as Ireland's finest poet after Yeats. He was born in Inishkeen in the south of the county, and his writing evokes the poor quality of peasant life - and also something of the monotony of the rural landscape.

Particularly in the north of the county, the terrain has led to an insane crisscrossing of lanes: a compass is a good idea, as is an up-to-date map. It makes for good walking if you're not in too much of a hurry: in these hilly areas you can wander undisturbed for miles along the labyrinth of ancient tracks and lanes - though it is advisable to avoid the border. If you know what to look for you can seek out the sites of court tombs, forts and cairns from the Bronze Age. Many of them, thanks to the underdevelopment of the land, have remained virtually untouched. The best megalithic sites in the region are the Lisnadarragh wedge tomb, Dún Dubh, at Tiravera, and the Tullyrain triple ring fort near Shantonagh.

Most of Monaghan's towns and villages have very clear origins in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The influence of Scottish planters and English colonists is obvious in the number of planters' Gothic and Presbyterian churches, and in the planned towns and the landscaped estates developed around conveniently picturesque lakes. Stark, stern architecture reflects the character of the hard-working and hard-driving settlers who came here determined to extract prosperity from farming, and from the linen industries which they introduced. Probably the most extreme examples of such discipline are the dour, austere stone cottages of Glaslough , cold and orderly in the north of the county. Like Cavan, Monaghan's cultural identity is deeply rooted in Ulster history.

Ireland