Parish church, Walkden
By a fortuitous blend of public open spaces, golf courses and major roads, most of the M28 postcode is split into discrete areas in a manner rarely seen in a city environment.
The landscape reflects the industrial origins of the place, a blend of old coal workings and dyeworks. Underground canals still link Walkden to Worsley today.
To the north, Walkden and its satellites are unmistakeably Salford - bustling, with its working class origins still in the air, quite literally in one sense: the miners who once predominated claimed that they couldn't hear the one o'clock bell tolling the end of dinnertime and the Town Hall clock was tuned to strike thirteen instead.
The clock, now moved to Ellesmere Shopping Centre, still does precisely that.
To the south you have a selection of what could be described as housing nirvanas - old favourites like Worsley, Broadoak and Roe Green, or recent pretenders such as Ellenbrook and Boothstown.
The M28 postcode is a good place to look for a semi - they make up 45.5 per cent of properties - but is not as happy a hunting-ground for flats, which make up just 8.8 per cent of the housing stock. A further 21.9 per cent of the market is detached.
Property in Walkden
1. Worsley
Cottages by Worsley Woods
Where is it? The south-eastern extremity, by junction 13 of the M60.
What's There? Worsley's riot of Victorian half-timbered pastiches belies its origin as an industrial pioneer in the earliest days of canals.
The entrances to these underground canals now look more like fairy grottoes amongst the lawns, greens and facades of this unique landscape.
Worsley Green is the undoubted star, a rectangular swathe ringed by Georgian cottages and Victorian black and white vernacular villas.
Also in demand are the substantial, garden-rich semis tucked away to the west or the rustic cottages leading up to Worsley Woods.
One downside – beyond the prices - to Worsley is the adjacent motorway junction, something which wouldn't have been allowed in these conservation-minded days.
Buyers? Professional and managerial: Worsley has double the national average of self-employed residents.
2. Broadoak Park
Broadoak Park mansion
Where is it? Facing the equally exclusive Ellesmere Park across Worsley Golf Course, south to Swinton Road.
What's There? Based around the grand rustic crescent of Chatsworth Drive, this is majestic mansion territory.
Houses feature security notices, tall gates, 10' hedges and sweeping driveways; in 2006, footballer Ryan Giggs demolished one to replace it with his own palace.
Joining the various mansion styles is a new estate of very smart townhouses, mostly three-storeyed, in between Chatsworth and Worsley Golf Course.
The course is studded with public rights of way and as such provides a vast front lawn for all of 'the Oak' - not that its garden-rich residents need it.
Buyers? The old cliche - if you have to ask the price, forget it.
3. Hazelhurst
West Hazelhurst villa
Where is it? Wedged between the A572 and the A580.
What's There? Sweeping from east to west, Hazelhurst undergoes a social rise from respectable Swinton to exclusive Roe Green.
Its eastern third is a collection of late Victorian and Edwardian terraces and semis, most with small back gardens and much in demand.
Central Hazelhurst is a definite step up the housing rung with larger gardens, driveways and garages, and terraces are replaced by detached properties.
The leafy vistas of west Hazelhurst are full of 19th and early 20th century villas and mansions, all competing to outshine their neighbours in architectural detail.
Buyers? A mix of families and more professional types the further west you go.
4. Roe Green
Green-side cottages, Roe Green
Where is it? Beautifully isolated by woods and golf drives, and although it feels a world away, right by junction 14 of the M60.
What's There? Bypassed by the trunk roads and motorways that scar much of Salford, Roe Green is an impossibly pretty spot whose few new developments do nothing to mar the overwhelming rural aspect.
There are a few short Edwardian terraces to the south, some inter-war semis to the south-east and a lovely Nineties' townhouse development east of the Green.
Otherwise the salient features are the archetypal whitewashed facades or rose-bedecked brick porches of Georgian and Regency cottages.
The Green is large, and would have stayed larger but for the railway line scything through and isolating the western end. Now known as Beesley Green, it's reminiscent of Worsley with its Victorian half-timbered pastiches.
The railway is now history, and has been turned into a delightful footpath, restoring peace to this most village-like part of the borough of Salford.
Buyers? Traditional families, retired people who have been in the district for decades, and an increasing profile of wealthy arrivistes.
5. Ellenbrook
Old centre of Ellenbrook
Where is it? Between the East Lancs Road to the south and central Walkden to the north.
What's There? Ellenbrook is a large, popular and quiet estate divorced from the rest of Walkden.
An old railway, now a leafy footpath, divides Ellenbrook itself. The northern sector is full of top-notch inter-war semis with bay windows, large driveways and gardens, and some outrageously wide avenues.
Southern Ellenbrook is an Eighties' estate of short, winding closes and cul-de-sacs featuring semis and detached houses. The old heart of Ellenbrook, centred around the church and the pub, is on the estate's western edge.
Buyers? A great family area; second and third time buyers to the south with more established families to the north.
6. Boothstown
Modern townhouses, Boothstown
Where is it? The western extremity of southern Walkden faces countryside to the west with the East Lancs Road running along the northern border.
What's There? This very opulent suburb, like Ellenbrook, stands apart from the rest of Walkden with a historic centre on its western fringe.
Time seems to have reversed in Boothstown. Edwardian semis with large front and back gardens are found in the east, away from the village centre. North-west of these is a large swathe of Sixties' bungalows with small garages, gardens and driveways.
The bulk of Boothstown, however, is a diffuse collection of Seventies and Eighties housing, mostly detached, that becomes seriously affluent the closer you get to the old centre.
The seal of wealthy approval here is marked by a marina on the Bridgewater Canal.
Buyers? Popular with those who can't quite afford Worsley.
7. Linnyshaw
Sixties' terraces, Linnyshaw
Where is it? This eastern approach to Walkden is a man-made enclave between the A6, the M61 and Linnyshaw Industrial Estate.
What's There? Given that the eastern half of Linnyshaw is an industrial estate, the rural feel of the housing section is a pleasant surprise once you move north from the A6.
The dwellings are a mixed bag of inter-war bay-windowed cottages, Sixties' bungalows and Nineties' semis in varying styles. No one particular type seems to predominate.
Buyers? A broad selection, slightly better-off than most of central Walkden.
8. Whittle Brook
Post-war flats, Whittle Brook
Where is it? The south-eastern outpost of Walkden, nestled next to Ellesmere Golf Course, south of the A6.
What's There? This is a surprisingly quiet and leafy district once you remove yourself from the A6. The initial feel of Whittle Brook is one of short rows of artisans' cottages in traditional terraces.
The further you delve, however, the more you find modern infills in the form of Fifties' flats with communal grounds, and some seriously smart Nineties' semis in dark, ridged-brick whose doors intriguingly face in different directions.
As you move west towards Walkden Central, the property turns into short late-Victorian redbrick terraces.
Buyers? A locals' feel to the west and north; more newcomers, and wealthier at that, in the quieter centre. Many first-timers in the flats.
9. Walkden Central
Modern Juliette apartments, Walkden
Where is it? At the heart of things, straddling the major junction of the A6 and A575.
What's There? With the shops and spider's web of road junctions, things are busier here than in the leafy southern counterparts.
There are two dominant property types: solid, redbrick bay window terraces and apartment blocks from seemingly every post-war decade.
The former tend to be very respectable and well-looked after. The latter are all low-rise affairs, the immediate post-war affairs with deep balconies and communal grounds; their more recent counterparts opting for Juliette balconies and car parking.
There seems to be an equal split between rentals and sales in the flats.
Buyers? A mix of traditional locals and first-time buyers.
10. Engine Fold
Old cottages, Engine Fold
Where is it? The western extremity of northern Walkden with countryside to the west.
What's There? Perhaps the best-kept secret of the Walkden postcode, Engine Fold is a classic inter-war semi-detached estate featuring row after row of genteel, well-tended houses and a few far older survivals.
An obvious feature of Engine Fold is the common arrangement of big driveways and generous gardens.
As you close in upon the A6 to the north, the place has been augmented with a collection of Eighties' detached bungalows that reinforce its unassuming affluence.
Buyers? Fairly wealthy professionals and large families.
11. Hill Top
Old semis, Hill Top
Where is it? Walkden's northernmost settlement, straddling the Bolton Road (A575).
What's There? Hill Top has a southern homogenous half, with large-scale inter-war semi-detached houses that run northward from the shopping heart of Walkden.
However, heading north up the eponymous hill brings you to a gaggle of property styles. Terraced artisans' cottages with traditional back yards are now much in demand, and there are Eighties' box houses with small gardens on much the same scale as their older neighbours' yards.
Further modern infills come in the form of small-scale apartment complexes from the 1990s. Generally, the further north you move through Hill Top, the newer the property.
Buyers? The descendants of the old Walkden working class seem to predominate in the semi-detached south. Further north is popular singleton and first-time buyer territory.
Living in Walkden
Transport
Ellesmere Shopping Centre
,_walkden.jpg)
Road: Walkden is ideally situated for motorway access.
The Mancunian ring road (M60) runs across the eastern border and joins with the M61, which connects with the M6 south of Preston.
Slightly south, junction 12 of the M60 takes you to the western arm of the M62 and all of Liverpool's delights.
Also passing west to east through the district are the A6 (London to Glasgow) and the A580, the old East Lancs Road (Manchester City Centre to Liverpool City Centre).
Rail: Walkden station, south of the town centre, is on a busy line from Manchester to Wigan.
Open Monday to Saturday, direct trains go as far west as Southport or as far east as Rochdale.
Air: By railway you can get to Manchester Ringway Airport, with one change at Salford Crescent, in just under an hour.
Trains to Liverpool John Lennon Airport take about two hours with between one and three changes.
By motorway, the M60 takes you to Manchester and the M60/M62 to Liverpool.
Parks & Open Spaces
Parr Fold Park
Blackleach Country Park. This 50-hectare space is a successful conversion of two derelict industrial reservoirs, one filled in and one maintained as a lake.
Head here for all manner of activities: fishing, cycling, playgrounds, volunteer opportunities and wildlife. Volunteers should contact. the visitor centre on the park's west side.
Parr Fold Park. A classic Victorian public park with all the associated features: floral displays, golf, tennis and bowling, a play area and woodland. The park also runs into one of the district's old railway footpaths.
The Looplines. One of Salford's great assets came with the conversion of old railway tracks into long, leafy footpaths also called linear walkways.
Walkden has several, in Hazelhurst, Roe Green, Ellenbrook and Walkden itself.
Old Warke Dam Lake
Roe Green. The 100 acres of Roe Green and Beesley Green represent the Borough of Salford's oldest and largest conservation areas. Running through them is another linear walkway.
Boothstown Marina, Boothsbank Park and Bridgewater Canal/Park. The southern edge of Boothstown consists of a fully functioning yacht marina alongside the canal, the rambling Bridgewater Park and the more formal Boothsbank Park with its bowling green, tennis courts and playground.
Worsley Woods. This 30-hectare paradise is a deeply wooded and undulating landscape based around the Old Warke Dam Lake. One of the Loopline footpaths runs across its northern border. Worsley also offers the Bridgewater Canal and its famous Green.
St. Mary's Park. The residents of Hill Top don't just have the country park on their doorsteps; they also have this Victorian creation with a playground, tennis, bowling, 5-a-side facilities and floral features.
Steve Roberts