I'd look at specifics. One area can have a very different feel to another but they can both have the same things that a family needs:
Somewhere you wouldn't have to move again for schools, both primary and secondary, which means checking catchments now. I know they can sometimes change but mostly they don't alter too much. I've known people buy a house because they like an area but they've fallen just outside the catchment of their favourite primary school and been disappointed.
Somewhere where it's easy for a teenager to be independent, so on a bus or train route to the city, park, cinema, shops, opportunities for part-time jobs (ie. no single track country lanes with a bus only twice a day and nothing after 6pm so that you're stuck ferrying them around.) For me this would discount a lot of rural Cheshire, as nice as it may be.
Somewhere it's easy to visit friends or family by your chosen method of transport eg motorway not too far, train, airport.
I know your LO is only a toddler at the moment, but I assume you're looking to put down roots, and once a child is really settled in school with good friends they will be reluctant to leave again at age 12, 13. And you definitely don't want to be moving during the middle of primary school because the best ones will be full and there'll be waiting list for a place.
I live in South Liverpool. There's a lot of incomers here from other parts of the country. Have to be careful with the secondary schools, though. My kids went to the one grammar (very competitive to get in). There is more choice of grammars on the Wirral. Houses can be cheaper than the nice parts of Liverpool. I wouldn't mind living on the Wirral, it's just a bit more convenient for us living this side of the water because all our family are here. I'd consider Chester too.
I'm not a fan of Manchester, I find it just too sprawling and the city centre is so congested and overbuilt on.
But it depends what vibe you like.