Cliffhanger

Battle Abbey, run by English Heritage as 1066 Battle of Hastings, Abbey and Battlefield, is the site where William the Conqueror's Normans met King Harold's English army. The abbey was founded by William soon after the conquest, said to be on the spot where Harold died.

Tip: Head to the visitor centre first to get the story of the battle, then take the audio tour round the battlefield.

Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex. Sir Edward Dalyngrigge built it in 1385 with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War. It has no keep. Instead, the chambers were built around the outer walls and inner courts, with towers at the corners and the entrance, topped by battlements.

Tip: You don't need to book in advance, but the car park uses the JustPark app, so download it and set up an account before you arrive. The towers are reached by steep spiral staircases.

Hastings Museum & Art Gallery is housed in John's Place, a red-brick building designed as a private house, with a crenelated roofline, columned loggia and studded oak doors. Inside, the early local history gallery tells the story of the area from prehistory to the Saxons. Local wildlife is shown in dioramas of different habitats, and there is a dinosaur gallery too.

Hastings Pier is a public pleasure pier designed by Eugenius Birch, who also designed the piers at Eastbourne and the West Pier in Brighton. It opened in 1872 and had its prime in the 1930s, when the pavilion buildings were given an art deco makeover.

The De La Warr Pavilion is a Grade I listed building on the seafront at Bexhill-on-Sea. Designed by Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff and built in 1935, Historic England describes it as the UK's first public building in the Modernist style. Since its restoration in 2005 it has been a contemporary arts centre, with one of the largest galleries on the south coast of England.

Tip: The car park outside is paid, with metered parking too, so allow for that if you're driving.

Hastings Castle is a ruined keep and bailey castle on West Hill, on the cliffs above the town, 60 to 70 metres above sea level. William of Normandy had it built soon after landing in England in 1066, first in wood and later in stone. Large parts have fallen into the sea over the years, and the original keep is no longer visible.

Pevensey Castle began as a Roman fort around AD 290 and is the largest of the Saxon Shore forts. Its massive walls, more than 500 metres long, still stand almost to their full height. In 1066 William the Conqueror landed here to begin his invasion of England, and the Normans built a stone keep and fortress inside the Roman defences.

Tip: Book advance tickets online to save money. Battle Abbey, the 1066 battlefield, is about 9 miles away.

Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle in East Sussex, dating from 1441. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England, built with bricks made from local clay by builders from Flanders. Its story runs from a ruined shell, left after the interior was demolished in 1776-77, to a major restoration in the early twentieth century.