By John Cole

Do you recognise your Neighbourhood?

How do the estate agents describe the area where you live? Whatever language they use, they will be out to make it sound as ‘desirable’ as possible!

How then would you describe it? And how might it appear to someone from the other end of England?

Even to say ‘’I live in a town’’ or ‘’a village" or "on an estate’’ may say less than we think. A place where 5000 people live may be a ‘’village’’ in Surrey, but it would be a large town in Northumberland!

Describing different types of locality is not easy, but it is worth trying - if only to help us to see how each place is totally unique, a product of its geography, its history, its relative wealth or poverty and many other factors.

Click on the left to read pen portraits of eight distinct types of area - with a hint of how the local church is likely to fit into the picture. See if you recognise your neighbourhood. If none of the eight is precisely right for you, the interesting question to ask is ‘’What makes my area different?’’

But there is another question to consider: When you have picked out of the eight the one cameo which most closely describes where you live, try the exercise again based on where your church is situated. Are your two answers the same?