Best place to live Lancashire ? Newly single

[30julytoday]

Can anyone offer suggestions (and why) on where I should look for my new home in Lancashire? I’m in my late 50’s and will be living on my own ( forever🥳)
My criteria is

1. Rural - large village or small town...preferably with hill views
2. Easy

Hi @HildegardNightingale 👍🏼

One last question for whalley fans...as I was Googling info after your suggestions there was a ton of stuff about the floods😱

Does it just pose a risk directly along the river or are there places like newer housing estate built on flood plain?
Just got me a bit concerned with that

Garstang and Clitheroe are more than 15 minutes from a main train station.

I think Lancaster itself is too far from Ormskirk.

Can't help with your flooding question sorry.

Yes, Whalley is best avoided because of the floods tbh. Does seem to be the village centre that gets the brunt of it.

Please may I join in?!
These areas are definitely of interest to me!
How does Mawdesley rate? Is it as lovely as Parbold? ( in relation to community groups, friendliness,etc) and how about Towngate and Andertons Mill - are these separate little villages in their own right or part of Mawdesley? Lovely looking houses in that area. Thanks in advance.

Having read the updates, I still say Standish/Parbold. You can get on the train from Wigan and mway links are fab. Standish is about a 10 min drive to Wigan station. You have the Haigh country park for walks. It’s such a calm and lovely area. You can pop to Manchester for cultural stuff and shopping, or the beautiful parts of Cheshire eg Tatton Park. Airport is 45 minutes away. Can’t go wrong. Best of luck and update us!

@heartzone - I'm originally from Tarleton, so know a bit about Mawdesley. As far as I know Towngate is part of Eccleston, and isn't a separate village. Andertons Mill is also just an area rather than a specific village. Mawdesley is nice - some beautiful property around there - and Cedar Farm is great for little independent traders. Not too sure about the community, I know they have a village hall but not sure what they put on.

I also came to suggest Mawdesley, Parbold etc. If you're wanting more village town then I thought of Rainford, Appley Bridge, Shevington. I added them last three due to the transport links and I would say they are slightly more built up. I am local to all of them places and they are all lovely but different in their own way. There is also Billinge, Dalton, Tarlton, Rufford. So many places!! All not far from Ormskirk and Wigan and close to M58 and M6. Plus your train links to Manchester/Liverpool. A great place to live I would say.

Carnforth or any of our surrounding villages. We border with the Lakes and it is stunning but we also have Kendal and lancaster 15 minutes either way and Preston 30 minutes away.

Plus..You won't get hill views that'll beat ours!

@HeartZone Towngate is a road in Eccleston, I don't think there is an actual area called Towngate.
Mawdesley is quite nice, though the village pub is up for rent and if no one takes it on it could be closed for good. Aside from that there is only a small Spar. On a social POV there is an active church if you're into that sort of thing. It depends if you're happy to drive everywhere.

I struggle with the smell from the pet food factories near Tarleton, but that's probably just me as DH's friends there are happy enough.
If you like being in the hills and having views you're better off looking further north at the Forest of Bowland area, or even Rivington, or the villages off the A59 towards Clitheroe.
As nice as a lot of the mentioned places are around the borders of West Lancs / Chorley (I live there myself) I wouldn't really say we have spectacular views. Wrightington is higher up I suppose, but you would need to be on the top to get a clear view across to Winter Hill etc.

Dalton is at risk of being swallowed up by the housing estates on the edge of Skem.
Croston is too much of a flood risk and the traffic is such a ball ache. Plus the rail like there (Ormskirk to Preston) apparently has the accolade of being the most unreliable in the country.
Ormskirk is also awful for traffic.
Parbold has a lot of independent businesses and it's lovely to walk by the canal, but we found it full of expensive dormer bungalows close to the railway when we were looking. Obviously you might not mind that!

Wow everyone here is so helpful thanks so much.
@curbsideprophet when I look at Mawdesley on rightmove the font for towngate makes me think it is a separate village, thanks for clearing this up.

@loopyapp

Carnforth or any of our surrounding villages. We border with the Lakes and it is stunning but we also have Kendal and lancaster 15 minutes either way and Preston 30 minutes away.

Plus..You won't get hill views that'll beat ours!

I love silver dale...rspb etc...views beautiful...just think it’s a bit too far north for me...

Sorry everyone...didn’t see a new flurry of suggestions as thought thread had done it’s job. Thank you all..great help to me and I’ve been giggling and searching on all the suggestions.ready to explore in car when lockdown eases
And yes, I will post back when I move and let you know 💐💐💐💐

@HeartZone

Please may I join in?! These areas are definitely of interest to me! How does Mawdesley rate? Is it as lovely as Parbold? ( in relation to community groups, friendliness,etc) and how about Towngate and Andertons Mill - are these separate little villages in their own right or part of Mawdesley? Lovely looking houses in that area. Thanks in advance.

Feel free!

@30julytoday
Glad to hear you’re enjoying your searching “giggling and searching” 🤣
Good luck and roll on lockdown lifting.