On a balmy May afternoon, a St George's flag flutters in the breeze above St Katharine's Church in Blackrod.
In the distance, the needle of the Winter Hill TV mast pricks the cloudless sky. Down in the valley below, cars glisten in the sun as they zoom along the M61 motorway between Manchester and Preston.
The striking landscape is one that locals in this small town, on the outskirts of Bolton, do not take for granted.
