Lancashire is a microcosm of England's north/south divide. In the south of the county, the Accrington brick Victorian terrace houses, red as raw steak, snake between grafitti-rich shopping precincts and the occasional Wesleyan chapel converted into a discount warehouse. Press on north for 20 minutes, and a landscape of verdant hills, rushing brooks, dolls'-house villages and country estates whisper of wealth so old and quiet you wonder if the locals of such an enchanted corner of England have cast a spell on holidaymakers who blindly speed north to the Lake District or west to Blackpool. Jus...
