North Down is like nowhere else in Northern Ireland. Home to the professional and business classes, it oozes affluence. Handsome houses fill its smart, seaside towns. Top-of-the-range cars line many driveways.
Locals affectionately call it the Gold Coast. It's predominantly Protestant with a smattering of upwardly mobile Catholics. Of course, not everyone is a millionaire, but most are comfortable.
The area traditionally has a low electoral turn-out, but its behaviour will be crucial next week. With unionists split down the middle, the fate of the Belfast Agreement could well lie with voters like those in North Down, respectable Middle Ulster.
Ms Patricia Watson, a retired school-teacher from Holywood is a gentle, softly-spoken woman. But she is passionately opposed to the agreement, believing it threatens her British citizenship. She is horrified that political parties representing paramilitary groups could be in government.
"I've taught on the Shankill and I know what these paramilitary people are like. And Gerry Adams and David Ervine have already swollen heads. Imagine how they will be when they are in £70,000 jobs with big titles?"
Ms Watson wishes Northern Ireland could return to the pre-Troubles era when "everyone lived in peace and religion didn't matter". The agreement causes division, she says. "By bringing up certain things it sets people against one other and creates problems that didn't exist."
From further around the coast in Groomsport, Mr Tony Fleck disagrees. A media consultant and former head of the Independent Broadcasting Authority, he believes the agreement offers the only way forward.
"Opponents of the deal are living in the past. They want to form a ring of wagons and keep the enemy outside. But the agreement doesn't threaten the Protestant culture, religion or way of life. As a regular visitor to the Irish Republic, I know it has changed. It is no longer a theocratic state.
"It makes sense for these islands to be integrated more closely. We are all part of Europe. But both sides of the Border must get to know each other better." Mr Colin Stutt, an economic development consultant who lives a few miles away in Helen's Bay, is another strong supporter of the agreement. He believes the North's politicians would come into their own if given the chance.
"I know a number of those involved in the talks and they would make a much better job of running the place than some government ministers. Our politicians have matured tremendously in recent years.
"Look at Belfast City Council, so sensible after its past antics. The international experience shows radical steps must be taken," he says.
"I was in Latvia eight years ago when the mafia stopped attacking hotels. Why? Because they owned them. Give previously dissident people a stake in society even if it is distasteful to the establishment. It works wonders."
Mr Stutt is prepared to countenance reforms of the RUC. "I have never experienced any problems with the RUC, but I acknowledge that others approach the matter from a different perspective."
Policing is a major issue in North Down, where a high proportion of residents are serving or former members of the security forces. "It's disgraceful that a force which has lost 301 members in the Troubles could be destroyed," says Muriel Boston, a retired civil servant from Bangor. "My cousin was a police officer and he was shot in the head. My sister-in-law lost five relatives."
The questions of prisoner releases is fundamental for Mr Stephen Cooper (26), a former UDR man who has just bought a house in Holywood. "Ex-prisoners walking the streets could be very dangerous for people like myself.
"If Sinn Fein is in government, its ministers could have access to confidential security information. Who could sleep at night knowing that?"