Hastings & 1066 Country, East Sussex

England's greatest work of art

This stretch of the South East coast and countryside is truly England's greatest work of art, a playground canvas of light and colour on which the seasons paint many different stories. Yet the seasons are just one of 1066 Country's many authors and even the briefest glance at some of its greatest charms reveal an ever-changing masterpiece shaped by everything from chance, destiny and disaster to history itself.

You can see it in places like the late Christopher Lloyd's Great Dixter, the expansive Pashley Manor Garden or the dark, verdant King Johns Garden where the Black Prince is said to have kept the French King hostage for many years. You can see it in the ancient landscape of the Hastings Country Park or the Rye Bay Nature Reserve, both untroubled by time and the everyday tread of the modern world. You can see it on the 1066 Country Walk, a 31 mile meander through unbroken beauty and forgotten days.

1066 Country's past is part of its DNA, written into the hills and valleys that define its countryside, stained into the cobbled streets and narrow alleyways in towns like Rye and Hastings, burned into beaches like Bexhill and Camber. The battlefield on which England's liberty was lost on that fateful October day is still open to the public as is Battle Abbey that was erected by William the Conqueror to honour his victory. The coastal Pevensey Castle was dubbed 'England's Gate' by Kipling for its status as the landing place in both the Roman and Norman invasions. Bodiam Castle, with its somewhat less belligerent history, is still one of England's finest moated castles and its immaculately preserved walls offer a unique chance to step into another time and place.

The coast of 1066 Country frames the unfolding wonder of its towns, villages and countryside and is home to many remarkable communities with their own unique traditions and histories. Smuggling, a dark profession riddled with risk, violence and adventure, was practically invented along the 1066 coast. Hastings, Rye and Winchelsea were once part of the 'Cinque Ports', a prestigious group of maritime towns whose ships were precursors to the Royal Navy. Hastings is also the home of Europe's largest beach-launched fishing fleet and its traditional methods (which include carefully calculated net sizes to prevent overfishing) have led to it being one of the few in the world to win certification from the Marine Stewardship Council. The waters of 1066 Country are also the grave of many famous shipwrecks including the Dutch East Indiaman the Amsterdam at Bulverhythe in Hastings.

It's appropriate that many artists and writers have chosen 1066 Country as their home and inspiration. From the impressionist JMW Turner (whose watercolour
'Hastings: Fishmarket on the Sands, Early Morning' was recently acquired by the Hastings Museum) to Kipling, Henry James and EF Benson, some of England's finest creative minds have had a hand in the unfolding majesty of England's masterpiece.

Visit http://www.visit1066country.com/treasures for more information