My cultural day out on the Sussex Art Shuttle

With next week’s Turner prize opening in Eastbourne, we try a hop-on, hop-off bus service that takes art lovers around the area’s cultural hotspots

I’m on a bus, hurtling over the hills at exhilarating speed. An oxbow lake flashes into view: while geography was never a passion, the sharp curves of the meandering river as it reaches the sea at Cuckmere Haven demand my full attention. The arresting view has featured in paintings by Eric Ravilious as well as a Hollywood film or two.

Stunning scenery and its artistic representation are one of the draws of the Sussex Art Shuttle – the bus’s official title – a new service that transports visitors between Eastbourne’s Towner Gallery, the Seven Sisters Visitor Centre just outside Seaford, the picturesque villages of Alfriston and Litlington, Charleston (former home of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant), and the new Charleston gallery in Lewes.