Bucket hats off to Stockport. Look beyond the cranes and the disused Debenhams and this proud old town is fast becoming fashion-forward, funky and family-friendly. It’s also the only place in Britain where you’ll find a dedicated hat museum.
This varied town is also supremely functional, offering good-value houses up and down the property ladder, parks, choirs and sports clubs including a resurgent Stockport County FC and rail links to the entire country. You can get to Manchester Piccadilly in ten minutes and the area around the station is being revamped: the imminent Stockport Interchange will link it with a new subterranean bus station beneath an attractive public park. The proper countryside of the Pennines and Peaks is close at hand too.
A mighty metamorphosis