10 Worthing – West Tarring – Durrington / Angmering

The 10 is Worthing's everyday town circular with a country tail, looping out from South Street through the suburbs of West Tarring and Durrington before stretching west to the village of Angmering and back again. It is a deceptively rewarding ride, threading from the seafront, through Edwardian streets, past parades of independent shops and out into the open South Downs fringe.

Leaving Stop M on South Street, the bus passes the Italianate Worthing Town Hall and the dignified terraces of Chapel Road, with quick glimpses of the pier and seafront gardens off to the left. Within minutes you are at Worthing Railway Station, then sliding west along Clifton Road and Howard Street, where bay-fronted villas and pocket parks signal the older West Worthing neighbourhoods.

Crossing into Tarring, the character changes again. This was a village in its own right long before Worthing swallowed it, and the route briefly skirts the conservation area around the High Street, where flint and timber cottages cluster near St Andrew's Church and the medieval Parsonage. From here the road climbs gently northwards through the residential closes of Upton Gardens and Castle Way, with mature gardens, school playing fields and the green ridge of Highdown Hill rising ahead.

Durrington fills the middle of the journey, a long parade of shops at Strand Parade and the Boulevard giving way to the wide avenues around Maybridge and Boxgrove. Beyond Northbrook College the suburbs thin out and the bus drops into open country, with horse paddocks, hedged lanes and the first proper views west towards Highdown and the Arun valley. A pause at Ferring's Langbury Lane is your cue that the sea is close by, just over the fields to the south.

The country section to Angmering is brief but lovely. Past Roundstone Garden Centre the bus curls into the village proper, with its duck pond, flint walls and the Spotted Cow looking out over Angmering Village Green. A loop through Bramley Way and Swanbourne Park serves the newer estates before the bus turns and retraces its steps, giving you a second chance at the views back across the Downs and the rooftops of Worthing tumbling down to the Channel.

The return leg drops you back at South Street's Stop K, a short stroll from the pier, the Dome cinema and the Lido. For a route that nominally just links a town to its outlying villages, the 10 packs in a surprising slice of Sussex: medieval Tarring, suburban mid-century West Worthing, the green edge of the Downs and a proper old village green at Angmering.

The 10 makes for an easy, low-effort day out from central Worthing, mixing a stroll along the seafront with a poke around medieval Tarring and a country wander at Angmering. Start at South Street's Stop M, ideally after a coffee at one of the independent cafés on Warwick Street or Montague Street, just a couple of minutes' walk from the stop.

As the bus arrives in Tarring, hop off near St Andrew's Church and explore the conservation area on foot. The medieval Archbishop's Palace (Tarring Parsonage), the timber-framed cottages on the High Street, and the quiet churchyard make for a peaceful half-hour of pottering. The little parade of shops nearby is good for a pastry stop.

Continuing on to Durrington, the Strand Parade and Boulevard stops put you within easy reach of Northbrook Country Park and the open expanse of Palatine Park, both good for a leg-stretch. Walkers with more time can pick up paths heading north towards Cissbury Ring, the Iron Age hillfort that crowns the Downs above Worthing with vast views back to the coast.

Stay on past Northbrook College for the country leg through Ferring and on to Angmering. Get off at Angmering Village Green for the prettiest part of the village: the duck pond, flint cottages and the Spotted Cow pub for a proper lunch, or the Lamb Inn just up the road. A short walk takes you to St Margaret's Church with its Saxon origins, and walkers can pick up the Angmering Park Estate trails for a circuit through bluebell woods.

On the return leg, consider breaking the journey at Ferring's Langbury Lane and walking the ten minutes down to Ferring beach, a quiet shingle strand with views east to Worthing Pier and west to the Selsey peninsula. The Bluebird Café on the seafront is a long-standing favourite for a cuppa.

Back in Worthing, alight at Stop K on South Street and round off the day with a walk along the promenade to Worthing Pier, the Art Deco Dome cinema and the Lido. Fish and chips on the seafront, or dinner at one of the bistros on Warwick Street, makes a fitting finish to a quietly rewarding day out on a humble town bus.