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St Lawrence’s Church was built for the 7th Earl of Westmorland in 1744-46, probably to a design by Roger Morris, previously an assistant to Colen Campbell who had designed the neo-Palladian Mereworth Castle for Lord Westmorland twenty years before. It replaced a church, mediaeval with a low tower, next to the castle.

St Lawrence’s is unique among country parish churches, with one of the most remarkable neo-classical interiors in Europe, designed like a Roman basilica. All its surfaces are painted with trompe l’oeil classical designs, and organ pipes are depicted on the west wall above the gallery. The ornate tower and spire have close similarities with several significant town churches, notably James Gibbs’s baroque St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. The display of heraldic glass, contemporary with the church, is unique, and there are also some fine late 19th stained glass windows.

Mediaeval monuments from the earlier church were transferred here in 1744 and can be seen in the NW and SW corners of St Lawrence’s. There is a peal of six bells, rung every Sunday and at all other services.

Major repairs were made to the tower and spire and the interior paintwork was repaired and conserved in 2007-9. This work cost almost £1 million.

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Co-ordinates: 51.25872, 0.377923 • what3words: ///heap.skirting.packet

Hadlow Castle, located in Kent, England, was an 18th-century Gothic-style country house largely demolished in the 20th century. Its most famous surviving feature is the Grade I Listed Hadlow Tower (or "May's Folly"), a 52-meter (170ft) tower restored in 2013. As of 2026, the tower, known as the tallest residential folly in the UK, has been listed for sale.

Built around 1838 by Walter Barton May, the tower was designed by George Ledwell Taylor with an octagonal design, often cited as a "Rapunzel-style" structure.

The main house was demolished in the mid-20th century. Following damage in the 1987 storm, the tower was later rescued, restored by the Vivat Trust in 2012–2013, and subsequently used as luxury accommodation.

The Tower was sold in 2020 for £1.23 million and by late 2025 was listed for sale again at a higher price, with its status as a public visitor site potentially changing. It offers stunning 360-degree views of the Kent countryside from the top, features a lift for access, and includes ornate Gothic architecture.

NOTE - this is a private residence so I advise keeping flying to a sensible distance from Tower.

TOAL is possible from a public footpath at the back of the castle. Very open with fields to the back, also good for a flight and some pretty pictures.

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Co-ordinates: 51.22261, 0.339004 • what3words: ///wiped.reason.workloads

Tranquil area, good car park from which to launch and land. Be careful though as the Reservoir itself is an SSSI - so don't overfly it. Keep away from the water.

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Co-ordinates: 54.13145, -1.816921 • what3words: ///served.warblers.sharper

Dating from 1080 St Andrews parish church in Steyning West Sussex is a grade 1 listed building. Enlarged over the centuries it is in the historic part of Steyning.

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Co-ordinates: 50.89009, -0.324893 • what3words: ///education.composed.outsize

St Peter and St Paul's Church, Shelford is a parish church in the Church of England in Shelford, Nottinghamshire.

The church is of medieval style and era but was heavily restored between 1876 and 1878 by Ewan Christian. The tower of the church was used by then Royalists during the siege of Shelford Manor during the English Civil War, but they were eventually defeated by Parliamentarian forces.

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Co-ordinates: 52.97459, -1.015999 • what3words: ///influence.enchanted.keyboards

Perched on a prominent spur of the Cotswold Edge, North Stoke Hill Fort (also known as Little Stowey) represents a classic example of a "promontory fort." Unlike the more complex multi-ditch forts, North Stoke utilizes the natural drop-offs of the hillside to provide defence on three sides, requiring man-made earthworks only across the "neck" of the spur to secure the interior.

This site dates primarily to the Iron Age, a period where tribal tensions necessitated these high-altitude enclosures for both livestock protection and territorial signalling. From this vantage point, occupants could monitor movement across the entire Severn Valley. Historically, the area is deeply linked to the Roman occupation of nearby Aquae Sulis (Bath); the proximity suggests that such forts were either decommissioned or repurposed as the Roman administrative machine took hold in the 1st century AD.

On the Northern Ramparts, you can clearly see the curving line of trees and scrub that follows the original bank and ditch. While the interior has been heavily levelled by centuries of agriculture—now visible as the rich, ploughed brown earth—the perimeter remains defined by these tenacious boundary markers.

The panoramic views showcase the "command and control" perpsective toward the Bristol Channel and the Welsh hills.

Lansdown Roman Camp is located about 400 metres west of North Stoke, featuring a rectangular stony bank and buried ditch, just visible at the bottom of one of the shots (although much is now hidden by the golf course that now sits over most of it)

You can also see Fair Field Barrows, two prehistoric round barrows located in the nearby "Fair Field" area just over the wall of the Lansdown Golf Club.

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Co-ordinates: 51.41836, -2.419481 • what3words: ///plays.insect.live

Newton Cap Viaduct was built in 1857 to carry the Bishop Auckland to Durham City railway across the River Wear and Newton Cap Bank, which leads down to the river.

The viaduct is constructed in stone and brick, it is 828ft long with 11 arches, with an elevation of 100ft above the river. The railway line was formally opened on the 1st April 1857 by a special train drawn by one of George Stephenson’s patent engines (No.55).

The viaduct fell into disuse when the railway closed in 1968. In 1972 Durham County Council converted the viaduct for use as a footpath. However, to relieve road traffic congestion on the single lane medieval Newton Cap Bridge at Bishop Auckland, work began to strengthen the viaduct and convert it for road use; this was completed in July 1995 and the busy A689 road was rerouted over the viaduct.

The viaduct is Grade 2 Listed.

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Co-ordinates: 54.66667, -1.681505 • what3words: ///script.empty.imprinted

This is the church of St John the Baptist but frequently just called St John's.

If you zoom in, then you can see the different coloured tip of the spire which has just been restored with the project finishing October 2025.

I parked outside the church itself but there are plenty of free parking slots nearby. For take off and landing I went to one corner of the graveyards and permission was asked of and granted by my mate, the current vicar.

if you were to fly there today, then you would note that all the roads (and paths) around the church have been renewed and will be the same deeper black as visible at the back of the church.

Also of interest, and can just be seen at the bottom left side are two gravestones which railway enthusiasts would likely know about.

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Co-ordinates: 52.33418, -2.064613 • what3words: ///manliness.wished.mental

Tardebigge Reservoir
and Tardebigge Locks (some of).

The reservoir itself is just within a flight restriction zone, but this is for a farm-based airfield called Stoney Lane, that I can't find any contact details for.

That said, my take-off/landing are and flight were all outside of any restriction zone.

I had intended to try and capture just the locks, well some of them anyway as this is the longest flight of locks in the UK, so getting all of them in a single shot is nigh on impossible! But when I stuck my drone up, I realised the reservoir (also sometimes called Tardebigge lake) became my main point of interest.

Anyway, whether you fly or walk the locks, it was a lovely peaceful spot just on the outskirts of Bromsgrove. I've marked up where I parked but my mate, a local vicar, suggested the car park in Tardebigge village itself. This is also the location of the top lock in the flight.

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Co-ordinates: 52.31339, -2.023759 • what3words: ///jumpy.whistling.notched

The parish church of St Peters is a grade 1 listed building in West Wittering dating from the 11th century. There is a footpath from the church to the beach.

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Co-ordinates: 50.77996, -0.899334 • what3words: ///bronzed.frightens.stags