The coastal town of Aldeburgh is a renowned magnet for both musicians and artists, including Benjamin Britten and Maggi Hambling. From May 2015, this artistic heritage will be further enhanced with the arrival of an additional landmark, in the form of a sculpture by Antony Gormley to be positioned at the Martello Tower. The life-size standing sculpture, cast in iron, is one of 5 being created by the renowned artist as part of the LAND project to celebrate the Landmark Trust's 50th anniversary. As Anna Keay, Director of the the Landmark Trust says, the project is designed “to celebrate the relationship between people, places and time in a new way”. Gormley's choice of Aldeburgh reflects the tower's position as “a point of punctuation in the landscape” and a site where the sculpture “could be a catalyst and take on a richer or deeper engagement with the site”.

Aldeburgh is also internationally renowned as home to a unique performance centre. Aldeburgh Music, which has recently announced plans to take over the entire Snape Maltings complex, is set in a stunning landscape, and is driven by artist development and education. From an annual festival founded in 1948 by Benjamin Britten along with Peter Pears and Eric Crozier, Aldeburgh Music now hosts a year-round programme including the annual festival in June and a month of proms each August. In 2013 a spectacular performance of Britten's Peter Grimes was produced on the beach at Aldeburgh to celebrate the centenary of the composer. The open-air performance was so well-received that this year's festival, which runs from 12-28 June, includes a whole series of outdoor concerts at the Bandstand Beach Stage, free to all, every lunchtime.

Based in Ipswich, Red Rose Chain is an innovative theatre production company that draws heavily on the Suffolk countryside, particularly for its Theatre in the Forest summer production. This year, Titania, Puck and the cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream will assemble at Jimmy's Farm from 22 July to 30 August where pre-theatre meals will also be available, made from the finest Suffolk produce.

Some of the most famous Suffolk scenes are those captured on canvas by Gainsborough and Constable, but you may not realise that some of the views that they painted have barely changed in two centuries. The 500-year-old Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich holds the largest collection of Constable and Gainsborough's work outside London, and is a must-visit if you want to examine the great masters' work up close. For the remainder of this year, the collection includes the breath-taking six-foot Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows 1831. Walk or cycle in the footsteps of both artists along the “Painter's Trail,” a 60km route through west Suffolk; and seek out the exact spots where works such as Two Boys Fishing, Cornard Wood, The Stour Valley and Dedham Village, and Hay Wain were painted. It's a beguiling ramble through water meadows and woodland, and beside river banks and country roads, you'll be able to see Flatford Bridge Cottage, Willy Lott's House, and the Stour Valley in all its glory. There are plenty of places to set up an easel should you feel the same lure that ensnared the hearts of two of the greatest painters this country has ever known.

A walking tour of Suffolk inspired WG Sebald's second novel, The Rings of Saturn. Follow his lead during the month of May by taking part in the Suffolk Walking Festival which includes over 90 pre-arranged walks, with local guides, exploring a wide variety of landscapes. Walks vary in length from 1 to 15 miles and over half are dog-friendly. A number of these pass through the wild Brecks, whose ancient heathland and forests date back to the Stone Age, whilst others focus on the county's two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty along the heritage coastline and at Dedham Vale.

The county's landscapes have also inspired some bleaker works, including those of crime fiction authors PD James and Ruth Rendell. Both novelists have set stories in the county, including James's Death in Holy Orders, set at Covehithe which, according to researchers, may disappear entirely into the sea within 50 years due to serious coastal erosion. George Orwell meanwhile, who is immortalised in graffiti art at Southwold Pier, wrote A Clergyman's Daughter, based on his life as a teacher and on his experiences in the town. On a brighter note, the newly-formed Broads National Park which spans both Suffolk and neighbouring Norfolk has similarly played host to a wealth of creative minds, including Arthur Ransome who set two children's novels in the area, thankfully with more cheerful storylines!

Newmarket, the home of horseracing, boasts a spectacular collection of equestrian art. Many of the subjects are four-legged superstars racing at the town's course, or its famous gallops. The National Museum of Horseracing is currently hosting an exhibition of key works from the private collection of the Duke and Duchess of Grafton at Euston Hall, Suffolk including works by Stubbs. Permanent items in the museum's collection include The Cambridgeshire by Benjamin Herring, oil painting, 1867 and a silk map of Newmarket Heath, where horses still train today, dating back to 1787. Meanwhile the Jockey Club Rooms, a private members club closed to the public during the racing season, opens up the doors to its amazing collection of works by Woottons, Stubbs and Herring showing hundreds of horses amongst the sporting landscapes around Newmarket.

For more information about these and other attractions throughout the county, why not try our interactive planning tool at www.takemetosuffolk.com to create a personalised itinerary ahead of your visit?

About Visit Suffolk

Visit Suffolk is the consumer-facing, strategic tourism brand for Suffolk and is an initiative between Visit East Anglia, Suffolk County Council and the districts and boroughs within Suffolk. For more information about Visit Suffolk please visit www.visitsuffolk.com