The Golden evening sun was just about to set on the pretty Co Antrim village of Doagh when the Rev William McCrea rode into town to preach to the converted.
Another night on the campaign trail for next Thursday's South Antrim by-election and the DUP candidate, in shirtsleeves, shows no signs of fatigue as he shakes hands, pats children's heads and strokes labradors. All the while, his face is beaming down from the election posters on seemingly every lamp-post in the village.
As he enters Beech Green, a pleasant estate of semi-detached bungalows with neatly-trimmed front gardens and opulent hanging baskets, Mr McCrea rattles off all the local issues - a postal workers' strike in Antrim, waste management in Mallusk, river pollution in nearby Ballyclare.
He says: "People want somebody to listen to their concerns, not somebody who talks down to them. With me, they know exactly what they get, a bread-and-butter politician who is 100 per cent clear on where he stands. People respect that. In fact, I have not yet been insulted by a single person during this campaign; everybody has been very gracious."
"Country people would not do that anyway. This is a very well-behaved part of the world," says Mr Nigel Dodds, the Assembly's former social development minister, before grabbing another pack of leaflets and tackling the next row of letter-boxes.
Then it is off to Burnside, a neighbouring village, which shares its name with the Ulster Unionist candidate. "This is safe Ulster Unionist territory," warns one of Mr McCrea's campaign team. They need not have worried. The DUP van is greeted by waving pedestrians and motorists as well as a horde of children who have just relieved an Ulster Unionist canvassing party of their stickers.
"Isn't that a lovely sticker?" Mr McCrea says, palming off one of his own to a little girl in denim dungarees. She agrees. "I have already got five of yours. They stick much better than those from the other man. His just fall off."
"I know who I am going to pick, you," says another little girl, winking at Mr McCrea. "That's good," he replies and then patiently gives her a run-down on his family, who are pictured on the election leaflet. "These are two of my daughters and that's another son of mine. He's got a wee boy and a wee girl so the family is getting bigger all the time." On the doorstep, Mr McCrea listens to complaints about the UUP candidate. "I don't like him at all. He swept right past me on Saturday although I had my hand stretched out. There's no way I am going to vote for him after that. You are an awfully nice wee man. The whole house is going to vote for you," the lady of the house assures him.
Another man tells McCrea he has not made up his mind yet. "We all voted Yes in the referendum and I haven't changed my mind as such. On the other hand, it would be good to have a local man," he says. "I appreciate that," Mr McCrea replies.
The DUP man again proves irresistible to females of a certain age as he is mobbed by yet another horde of six-year-olds who demand his autograph. "William" he patiently signs leaflet after leaflet in neat hand-writing.