Brighton Marathon finishes on Hove Lawns, a city seafront route from start to finish, and after two hours or more of tarmac and crowd noise, the appeal of somewhere with neither is fairly direct. April in the Cuckmere Valley is early spring rather than full bloom: the water meadows are green, the hedgerows are budding, and the weather is changeable enough that a waterproof belongs in the bag regardless of the forecast that morning. The Coaster bus, routes 12 and 13, runs directly from stops along the Brighton seafront to Alfriston and on to the Seven Sisters Country Park visitor centre at Exceat, roughly 70 minutes without a change, a single fare and a straightforward way to trade a city finish for genuine countryside without needing a car.
Nights One and Two: Alfriston
Alfriston is a single street of a village, timber-framed and flint-walled, that has changed shape only modestly since the medieval wool trade that built it. St Andrew's Church, known locally as the Cathedral of the Downs for a scale well beyond what the village's population would suggest, sits on the green beside the Cuckmere, and the Clergy House next to it, a fourteenth-century thatched hall house, was the first property the National Trust ever acquired, in 1896.
The primary recovery asset here is the Cuckmere Valley itself rather than any single trail: a flat, well-maintained path follows the meandering river south from Alfriston toward the sea at Cuckmere Haven, packed gravel and grass for most of its length, with no meaningful gradient across the roughly 4km each way. At a slow post-marathon pace the walk to the coast and back takes two to three hours, entirely flat, with the river's oxbow bends and the white cliffs coming into view gradually rather than all at once. Runners who want more can continue onto the lower slopes of the Seven Sisters cliffs from Cuckmere Haven, but that section involves real climbing and is better treated as a Night Two option once the legs have had a full day to recover, not a Night One plan.
Secondary attractions include Litlington, a short walk or a summer-season foot-ferry across the river from Alfriston, with a tea garden that has operated since Victorian times, and Drusillas Park a short taxi or bus ride away, more geared toward children but a pleasant, flat-grounds option if travelling with a family in tow.
Where to stay: The Star Inn, a fifteenth-century coaching inn on Alfriston's high street, sits in the middle of everything the village has to offer within a two-minute walk. The Deans Place Hotel, a short walk out toward the river, trades a little of that centrality for quieter grounds and a garden that backs directly onto the water meadows.
Where to eat: The George Inn, on the high street, does a proper Sunday roast alongside its regular pub menu, well suited to the kind of appetite two marathon-adjacent days tend to produce. The Singing Kettle, a tea room on the green, is the better call for a slower, lighter lunch between walks.
Getting Home
The Coaster bus runs back to Brighton from Alfriston in roughly 70 minutes, with services running through the day; check the current timetable at buses.co.uk or with Brighton & Hove Buses before finalising a return time, since Sunday and off-peak frequencies can run to a wider gap than weekday services. Runners flying home from Gatwick can also reach Lewes station by taxi and pick up a direct rail connection from there, avoiding a full loop back through Brighton first.