Őrség
Covered with forests, the gently sloping resort area played an important frontierguarding role from the 10th century. Its inhabitants settled on well-protected hilltops in colonies consisting of 5 to 10 houses. These 18 villages have preserved the settlement pattern of the age of the Magyar conquest: nearly every village has a number of old houses and a belfry. A fine example of the latter is the skirted belfry in Pankasz. Őriszentpéter is the centre of the Őrség. Its Romanesque church (15 Templomszer) is named after the Apostle St. Peter. The regional museum of the Őrség Exhibition House (55 Városszer) also deserves mention. Some fine examples of folk architecture, including a unique fenced thatched house and a pantry with an upstairs floor, are on display in an open-air ethnographic museum in the village of Szalafő, which is comprised of seven colonies. Velemér's 13th-century church offers some marvellous frescoes. There is also a medieval church in Hegyhátszentjakab. The nearby Lake Vadása is a popular recreational area.
