Knutsford is a substantial rural market town on the North Cheshire plain, providing homes for many Manchester bound commuters as well as local and agricultural industries. The historic centre of the town features many old half-timbered and Georgian buildings alongside the Italianesque towers of James Watt. The most striking of these is the memorial to local author Elizabeth Gaskell, who based her famous book Cranford on the town - though the recent BBC production was filmed elsewhere.

On the doorstep is Tatton Park, the most visited stately manor and parkland in the United Kingdom, but the centre of the town has other large green spaces - the Heath, which is the focus of the annual May Day procession and fair, and the Moor, with its children's play area and duck pond, splitting the town down its centre.