It's only 27 miles long and 15 miles wide, but it has more than 800 listed monuments of historical and architectural interest. It's Ireland's smallest inland county, and up to recently has attracted less than 1 per cent of the annual tourist influx.
Now Co Carlow is making a determined push to remedy its low ranking in the tourism stakes, cleverly turning to its advantage some of the very attributes that may have contributed to keeping it out of the tourism limelight in the past.
Its location, for example, surrounded by high-profile tourism counties such as Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow, and its closeness to Dublin, meant that it was somewhat overshadowed and often overlooked.
But the latest Carlow promotional material uses concepts such as: "Think of somewhere not too far from city or port, yet in the heart of Ireland." And it is beginning to cash in on its location as a convenient and relatively inexpensive base from which to tour the east coast, the capital city and a range of attractions in the south-east region.
The organisational focus for the drive to make the county a viable contender in the tourism industry is Carlow Rural Tourism, established on a voluntary basis in 1992 by a group of like-minded individuals in the industry. This body, which operates from a small office in the town of Carlow, was recently the overall winner in the rural tourism category of the AIB/Irish Farmers' Journal Agri-Tourism Award competition.
With over 70 members now in the network, Carlow Rural Tourism has identified cultural tourism as a key niche market and is building on the county's unique history. CRT's tourism officer, Eileen O'Rourke, says Carlow's profile has been changing gradually but steadily and can be substantially increased.
Despite its small size, the county has important natural attributes which are well suited to serve the new demand trends in global tourism, such as activity and adventure holidays and cultural and historical tours. Its waterways are a major strong point, with canoeing and cruising operators expanding their facilities; and the growing popularity of walking holidays is catered for by the development of the South Leinster Way, the Barrow Way and numerous routes in the rounded granite peaks of the Blackstairs mountains.
The county's archaeological and historical heritage is extensive. Carlow Rural Tourism has tackled the problem of making it known and appreciated by producing a range of well-designed brochures emphasising the convenience and accessibility of such features in a compact county. These have begun to redress the serious lack of information available on the county.
The fact that it is surrounded by more high-profile centres is being turned to advantage. "We have groups now that come to the hotels here and use Carlow as a base to tour Dublin, Glendalough and Kilkenny as well as Co Carlow itself. It's quite a central base," Ms O'Rourke says.
Carlow Rural Tourism has also joined Irish Country Holidays, a co-operative which markets rural tourism in 15 different areas throughout Ireland. The longer-term importance of building the necessary infrastructure to persuade tourists to stay within the county is recognised.
The number and standard of restaurants and bar food outlets is rising. The River Valley Food Circle, a stylish guide to eating out in the area drained by the three great sister-rivers of the south-east, has been produced by the Kilkenny-based Barrow Nore Suir Rural Development Ltd under the Leader programme.
New concepts in rural accommodation and facilities have come into being. One such is Ionad Follain in the village of Myshall at the foot of the Blackstairs. Here, in an 18th-century glebe house which was formerly the ecclesiastical residence for the barony of Forth, Rosaleen Fadden and Martin O'Connor have developed a holistic centre open to groups wishing to hold seminars, retreats, conferences, workshops or educational projects in a quiet rural environment.
They have renovated the extensive outbuildings - barns, sheds and dairies - into six separate houses, with a conference hall, central kitchen, workrooms and central dining room. Ionad Follain has been used by a diverse cross-section of this market - from cycling and climbing groups to psychotherapy and meditation groups, quasi-mystical religious groups from Spain and elsewhere, and postgraduate education groups conducting short, intensive courses.
"It's a year-round business. Our quietest month is probably August," says Rosaleen Fadden. She believes the historic house and lands have a spiritual energy and make an ideal setting for personal development conferences.
Now the couple are completing an 80-square-metre circular "oracle", or meditation building, faced with elegant Carlow granite and with windows by a local stained-glass artist, which will enhance the centre's facilities.
Such developments are tapping into a specialised but growing section of the tourism market, both from Dublin city, 50 miles away, and also from Europe as the market profile of Co Carlow becomes more distinct and prominent.
Carlow Rural Tourism, steadily building a profile for the county as the "Celtic Centre of Ireland", provides an information service on the facilities offered by this relatively undiscovered county, on (0503) 30411.