This page is a personal view of the areas around Preston, on the South-east corner of the Fylde plain.

Although several parts could claim to be the centre, the Harris Museum overlooking the cenotaph and the flag market is as near the heart of Preston as you can get. Preston is one of those towns that has tried really hard, and in many ways has succeeded as a retail centre, but at the cost of having no coherent identity for the town which has been butchered by ring roads and by-passes in the dash for growth. That said, it is a thriving shopping and business centre, spurred on, no doubt, by the influx of people to fill all the houses that the Central Lancashire Development Corporation built on behalf of the Government, to meet the projected needs of a growing population.

The closure of Preston Dock in the 1970's left a huge redundant area that is now becoming famous as an out of town retail opportunity where later in the evening you can conveniently also enjoy a McDonalds hamburger after a visit to the Multiplex Cinema. All nicely organised for you. The marina adjacent will look better with time, but some of the residential properties are quite well designed, though not quite on the same scale as London's docklands.

Ashton was always, and still is to some extent, one of the "better" parts of Preston, the leafy residential suburb to retreat to after a hard day at the office. It is on the North-western fringe of town and most famous in our house for a frock shop called "Aquarius" that you get dragged into several times a year, and from which you always come out a lot poorer. It is also convenient for the docklands facilities but I can't really see many of Fulwood's residents rushing for their McDonalds burger.

Lea (pronounced "lear" by locals) is where the town of Preston meets the countryside, and changes from dense urban to suburban then semi rural property. It's most famous bit is the Lea Gate Hotel, a roadhouse style restaurant just as you hit the countryside, and opposite to it, an American style diner which is a fairly recent innovation.

Deepdale is a densely packed residential area, with lots of terraced houses and some light industry. However it is the most famous part of Preston on account of Preston North End Football Club, and its bygone hero (now Sir) Tom Finney who played when football was sport rather than entertainment. The club's decaying stadium has now been replaced by one of those new external superstructure temples to televised entertainment (rather than football), and from where an assault on the summit of the Premier League is, no doubt, being plotted as you read.

Fulwood is a big area that runs North from Deepdale to the countryside through Withy Trees to Broughton and is a very mixed sort of area. It has some terraced housing, some big detached properties, business, light industry and commercial business premises. It is most famous for Fulwood barracks, for having the HQ for both the Lancashire Fire Brigade and the Lancashire Ambulance Service (or whatever its latest name is), and for being the road out to the M55 motorway.

Those who have lived in Preston a long time will frown when you ask them where Tanterton is. If you tell them it's near Ingol and Cottam, they will smile politely and remain puzzled, because Tanterton is a created community rather than an organic one. It was part of the building of undertaken by the New Town Initiative and plonked as a satellite development to the Northwest of Fulwood. So it is all modern property with sweeping avenues of bungalows and grass verges backed with planting to make it look like the countryside that was once there. As yet, it is not famous for anything really, but could well become so one day.

Nog Tow is a very small hamlet to the north west of Preston. It is not famous for anything except having such an unusual and interesting name!

Close to Nog Tow but a fraction larger is the countryside village of Woodplumpton. It is famous for a few things, including St Annes, a very old Church. Locals tell that someone suspected of being a witch was buried in the churchyard, but in case she tried to burrow her way out, she was buried head down. Woodplumpton is also a local centre for houses in the surrounding area, and has a thriving social and recreation club, including dominoes, tennis and crown green bowling, which shows that modern residents are much less bloodthirsty than their earlier counterparts.

Another quiet small countryside village, Catforth also has a Bowling green and social club. It adjoins the Lancaster Canal ,and has a road bridge crossing point with attractive views along the waterway. Slow and quiet places like Catforth probably don't like being too famous, or they stop being slow and quiet.