When it comes to the arts and entertainment generally, Kent can hold its own with the best.

Sometimes though, it can be refreshing and illuminating to travel to another county for a different perspective.

And so it was I headed to Ipswich in Suffolk for a cultural experience courtesy of Look Sideways – East.

Before embarking on the two-hour drive I knew very little about the town. I was aware it had a decent football team and that actor Ralph Fiennes and film and theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn hailed from there, and that was about it.

A one night stay is not long enough for extensive exploration but what I did see and hear about one of England’s oldest towns, if not the oldest, with a long proud history, was impressive.

We arrived on a Friday afternoon at the boutique Salthouse Harbour Hotel on the waterfront with pristine boats moored alongside that could grace St Tropez or Marbella.

We barely had time to settle into our sail loft marina room with a nautical view before it was time to meet up with Look Sideways – East’s knowledgeable project manager James Gorry for a briefing.

One of the proud boasts is that the East is outperforming the rest of the country in attracting visitors and visitor spending.

The project is doing a grand job in highlighting the region’s ‘world class arts in an awe-inspiring setting’.

“It will bring close and innovative collaboration between cultural organisations and tourism bodies, clarify Norfolk and Suffolk’s position as a standard bearer for the UK’s regional arts and persuade cultural tourists, both from within the UK and from further afield to Look Sideways – East,” it vows.

The project is currently running a social media campaign called Culture 365 (www.culture-365.co.uk), which highlights each day for a year a single aspect of the broad range on offer across the region, covering paintings, festivals, sculptures and people.

The aim is to inspire visitors to discover their own hidden gems of the region.

The organisation also promises cutting edge culture in Ipswich. Gecko Theatre creates work that tours internationally; SPILL Festival of Performance is a bi-annual international festival featuring experimental performance and the New Wolsey Theatre’s annual Pulse Festival which provides an open platform for experimental theatre makers.

During a far too short stay in the town we also enjoyed a fine gastronomic experience at the Waterfront Bistro a few metres along from the hotel before moving onto nearby Dance East for the premiere of Joss Arnott Dance and Dame Evelyn Glennie’s triple bill of contemporary dance and music.

We were promised a gripping journey of power, precision and heart-pounding choreography, and high octane dance and music, and that’s exactly what we got.

The young and supple dancers bent themselves into some impressive shapes accompanied by stirring music from Strike/Mathias Friis-Hansen.

After the show it was time for a nightcap in the brightly coloured but relaxing bar of the hotel.