The coastal village of Whiteabbey may be a small community, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in heart and spirit, say the businesses operating in the area.
Only a 15-minute drive from Belfast city centre, the picturesque Co Antrim village has always maintained a strong sense of community for locals and visitors alike.
Belfast Live visited Whiteabbey to speak to businesses at the heart of the community to ask them what makes the area a unique and desirable spot to live, visit and work.
Louise Dickson is one of the owners of E&L Beauty, a well-established beauty salon that is always there to make you feel like your best self.
Louise said: "We took over the shop two years ago, before it was Paula's Beauty Clinic for 25 years - it's brilliant because everyone is so friendly and it's a wee family community.
"Everybody is really nice and loyal and it's great to have really regular customers coming in and seeing us all the time.
"All the businesses work closely together too and everyone is really friendly so if you needed something you can just go in and say and they'll help you out."
On what makes Whiteabbey a standout spot, she said: "It just has everything you need, we've got it all just in one wee village. It's just a nice, friendly wee place and it's just lovely.
"Its also nice because if you want to go out at lunchtime and have a wee walk, you can just head down to the beach and it's so nice."
Dog groomer Emily O'Dowd-Lewis from Hair of the Dog set up shop five years ago and has not looked back since.
"A lot of the businesses here are family owned and run and when I started this business, I started it with my mum and there are a lot of other businesses that are the same," she said.
"There is a very nice kind of community feel about the place - we have the business association that started around three years ago and they organise so many great events that bring in a lot of footfall to the area.
"It's just brilliant. A really nice place to work and to live."
With the backdrop of the coast on her doorstep, Emily says it's hard not to enjoy coming to work every day.
She added: "When you are driving down in the mornings, it takes the bad part of driving to work away when you have such nice views.
"Having the parks and the beach, especially for a business like this, we get a lot of people coming in because of that."
Brian Shaw is the Retail Operations Manager of The Sipster, one of the few bespoke independent wine merchants in Northern Ireland.
Known far and wide not only for their impressive selection of wines, craft beers and spirits, their tasting room was the first of its kind on the island of Ireland providing that service.
Brian said: "Damian the owner was the brains behind the concept after having seen it abroad - certainly a pioneering concept here and he wanted to create an environment in the wine bar setting where people can come in and try wines by the glass."
With 24 wines on tap that are rotated every week, locals and visitors alike can come to the village to experience something completely unique every time they pop in.
He continued: "Whiteabbey village is situated so close to Belfast city but is a completely different environment altogether. A lot of people here would work in the city but it definitely has that village feel to it.
"Customers here in the community are very close to us and over the years, we've gained their trust because it is such a small area and we're very different to your supermarket - people don't just come in and keep their heads down, don't say anything and walk out, there's always a conversation.
"That is the mentality you get in a small village like Whiteabbey, which is really nice considering that it is so close to the city."
Brian added: "It's a very nice, welcoming community and has a lot going on with everything that people need right here, including ourselves. It's nice to be able to offer something like this that people would automatically assume would be better suited in a city and here we are in sleepy little Whiteabbey."
Abbey Alterations opened in 2018 and ever since, Ann Connelly has been working away to keep the community looking it's very best.
"We do a bit of everything. Alterations like turning up jeans, zips for all different occasions - weddings, Irish dancing and whatever you need sewed, or burst out of," she laughed.
Anne came to Whiteabbey for six months - 30 years later she finds herself unable to leave the village she fell in love with.
Discussing what was it that kept her in the area for so long, she said: "The people. It is such a lovely village and everybody helps each other and looks out for one another.
"It's such a nice area and it's a mixed area which is so good and that's what I love about it."
"Up the Glen is beautiful too, just stunning."
