Editorial: Recognition and protection for one of Ulster's most beautiful villages, Gracehill

​That only one other place in Northern Ireland is a Unesco World Heritage Site is a flattering fact for Gracehill.

​The Co Antrim village joins the Giant’s Causeway in getting the designation, and honour. It was established in the 1750s as a Moravian settlement, not long after this newspaper (the world’s oldest English language daily) was founded.

To this day it is a beautiful hamlet, built around its fine-looking church.

Northern Ireland has much fine architecture, and much of the best of that is churches from the 1700s. There are also many impressive Victorian buildings in Belfast and a well-laid out city centre.

Some of central Belfast was damaged in the German blitz of 1941, some of it in the Troubles. But some of the worst damage to NI’s capital was the neglect of handsome old buildings, which were constructed to a quality that is never matched today.

Some of the best buildings, indeed, were flattened, to be replaced by cheaply-constructed modern ones.

Over the decades, wonderful old buildings have been flattened and ruined in villages and towns across the province.

Now, however, more affluent generations are often able to restore them in a way that is sympathetic to their history.

Similarly, the glorious Ulster countryside was for a long time made ugly in places by the crude and unsympathetic building of bungalows and other housing, without much thought for their setting. Now you often see much more cleverly designed or restored homes.

Tourists from round the world are now curious about Northern Ireland. It is on the tourist trail and the cruise ship itineraries. Gracehill is one of the best villages but it is not alone: Hillsborough is among the others.

Recognising and protecting the best of NI will help to maintain its appeal to visitors and help make it such a great place for us to live.