Where can I fly my drone in the UK and get £5,000,000 Public Liability Insurance cover? Welcome to Drone Scene!

Wondering where you can legally fly your drone? Looking for great places to fly? Looking for £5m Public Liability Insurance cover? Well look no further!

Welcome to Drone Scene, the place to find great drone flying locations in the UK, view images and videos posted by other pilots and share your flying locations in order to help other UK hobbyists find great locations where they can fly safely too.

Click on a marker pin to view details of that location. You can also add comments and discuss the location in our forum.

×You must login to see Airspace Restrictions, National Trust boundaries and other interactive map layers.

Queen Elizabeth Country Park added to Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in South East by AeroJ on 11/08/2024

The South Downs contains a good few spectacular locations along its length, and Butser gets a lot of attention for being among the tallest and most open of them.

But the neighbouring peak of Butser is a slightly lower, almost entirely tree-covered hill where we find QECP, Petersfield's main big out-of-town country park, which deserves a pin on the map because it will occur to many to try and fly here, but we should be aware of the challenges in advance...

Parking is expensive if you bring the car, but bikes (and EUCs) get in free if you are up to the 400 ft climb to the top of the hill with another mile or 2 to go to the fly site once you get there ! Toilets and cafe facilities open within normal park sort of hours (also expensive !). The Park does not have any 'no drones' signs (as of Aug 2024), and I believe it's fine as long as you don't hang around the busy picnic and pizza oven areas at peak times. These border the closest TOAL field right next to the car park and make that one the least preferable of the 3 or 4 available - the others don't generally have stationary groups of people in them !

There ARE spectacular views available here, just not as many as you'd think ! It is MAINLY about the trees and sheer amount of them ! And it's quite a challenging place to fly for number of reasons I will briefly mention below.

All 3 of the potential fly sites are right at the top of the hill and are variously sized fields that adjoin the main gravel track running all the way along the main ridge from the upper car park to Wardown, which is the highest point of and end of the hill. The best place to fly from is undoubtedly the largest field, furthest from the car park (about 1.5km walk), and just before the hill drops off into the Wardown viewpoint (which is almost entirely obscured from view by trees from the ground). THIS is the view we want though and is a stunning vista back towards the town, in which we have imposing Butser on the left, the chalk quarry and town in front, and the A3 carving between the 2 hills, and vast, lush tree canopy in the foreground. This looks AMAZING in Autumn.

But the Achilles heel, so to speak, of this site is the fact that each of these TOAL fields are surrounded by tall trees, seriously limiting the amount of horizontal travel we have, even at some height without losing VLOS. The ONE exception is if you get your UV to follow the main track all the way along the hill ridge, which will give a long continuous shot with clear views of craft all the way along if you follow it on foot and lovely wooded drop-offs on both sides once you get about 100 ft above the tree-line.

We do get some RAF traffic appearing low over those trees on occasions, so good to notify them of any flights you may be intending to make here in advance. We also have to watch out for excess wind, which may seem calm at ground level, but can become suddenly huge as soon as you emerge from the canopy, where you are subject to a powerful prevailing wind that gets channelled along the A3 between the 2 hills. Although updrafts from this do get diffused by the woodland to some extent, some skim above it and can catch you, making descent a bit sketchy if you try it in the wrong places or need it in a hurry, so this is actually quite a challenging place to fly because you don't have much chance to see things coming and winds are unpredictable and powerful ! My advice is 'don't run low on power here - land well early'. The main risk is being blown out of VLOS for craft that can't handle big wind. I will only fly my M4P here on the very calmest of days.

A valid question to ask might be why you would fly here, when there is even bigger hill Butser right next door, which is a relatively easy-fly, vastly wide open space, with amazing all-round visibility wherever you fly on it, and I would have to agree !

QECP is for specialists, who want tree-lined ridges in certain lights, (and ones tall enough to poke through clouds occasionally) and who want to actually fly IN the woods where there are helpfully widely spaced and nicely managed trees and a number of interesting things to film including assault courses, bike trails, epic drop-offs and several crafty type play areas with rope swings and bridges and what-not. Looks great in golden hour. FPVers would have a ball in the woods if the light was right...

Land owner permission not required.

View and discuss this location in more detail on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 50.97363, -0.967226 • what3words: ///logs.marching.relations

The originator declared that this location was not inside a Flight Restriction Zone at the time of being flown on 10/08/2024. It remains the responsibility of any pilot to check for any changes before flying at the same location.

Where to fly your drone


Recently added locations

Dinorwic Quarry (By AlbionDrones)

Huge industrial remnants spread over about 4 square miles and about 1500ft.

Park at the marked area on the map and its about a half mile walk to the edge of the quarry on good paths, then you have the quarry opening up in front of you. Main paths very accessible, although some are steep, other areas to explore will require some mobility and fitness.

Lots of drone flyers about - mainly walkers with DJI MINI's...

Also a very exposed site, high winds were evident when we visited...

Land owner permission not required.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 53.12225, -4.106387 • what3words: ///email.forget.barbarian

Pegwell Bay Viking Ship (By grandad1950)

Good cafe and lots of space at the viking ship in Pegwell bay. Apart from the ship there are good views across the bay.

Land owner permission requirements unknown.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.32887, 1.373031 • what3words: ///depending.attends.scouting

Ramsgate Kent (By grandad1950)

From the East pier you get good views of both the beach and the harbour. Walking around the harbour there are lots of photo opportunities of the town and marina as well. Even the seagulls seemed friendly.

Land owner permission requirements unknown.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.33101, 1.423944 • what3words: ///riders.dips.cloud

Kingsgate Bay Kent (By grandad1950)

I flew from the cliff tops as the beach is in the SSSI. Good coffee in the beach shack. Even on a sunny day it wasn't crowded, so a good spot to take the family.

Land owner permission requirements unknown.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.3839, 1.441828 • what3words: ///spits.aside.nobody

Botany Bay Kent (By grandad1950)

A series of coves surrounded by white cliffs. Lots of room to fly especially at low tide, but not a lot of room in the car park

Land owner permission requirements unknown.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.3919, 1.428545 • what3words: ///curl.played.stage

Viking Bay, Broadstairs, Kent (By RDDronesLtd2022)

No permissions are required to fly here. Ensure you have the correct licence for the drone you are flying and don't fly here during peak hours.
Beautiful location to fly during sunrise and sestet hours.

Land owner permission not required.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.35805, 1.443168 • what3words: ///riding.aside.salad

North Foreland Lighthouse (By RDDronesLtd2022)

I don't believe permission is required to fly your drone here. As long as you have got the correct drone licence for the drone type you fly then I don't believe you would have a problem.
There is plenty of parking spaces at the beach car park (Joss Bay) There is a large field adjacent to the Lighthouse where you can takeoff and land your drone safely.

Great location and even more stunning footage can be captured during sunrise and sunset.

Land owner permission not required.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.37488, 1.445292 • what3words: ///turned.mouth.shunts

Govan-Partick Bridge (By 1AlanM)

New Govan to Partick footbridge opened September 2024. On the Govan side you have Old Govan Parish Church, the Pearce Institute and Govan Cross. On the Partick side you have the Zaha Hadid designed Riverside Museum and the Glenlee.

Parking available on both sides of the river - chargeable on the Partick side, free on the Govan side.

TOAL from beside old Harland & Wolff slips.

Land owner permission requirements unknown.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 55.86469, -4.309151 • what3words: ///paint.crowned.smoke

Drapers Windmill Margate (By grandad1950)

Built in 1845 this is a classic form of smock mill. TOAL a bit tricky as the mill is next to a school so weekend flight when school is shut is the best bet

Land owner permission requirements unknown.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.37993, 1.393316 • what3words: ///played.stop.cakes

Coldbackie Beach, Sutherland, NC500 (By AlbionDrones)

Some of the best beaches and views in the world can be found in the far north of Scotland, along and near the Scottish North Coast 500 (NC500).

Coldbackie is a small beach, at the mouth of the Kyle of Tongue, sheltered behind the Ravvit Isles, and is found just before you arrive in Tongue from Bettyhill and Borgie. The beach has stunning white sands, edges with craggy rocks and is bathed in crystal clear turquoise waters, what is not to love!

Take a moment to stop if you can, the viewpoint layby is worth a few minutes - just to soak up the views - whatever the weather!

There are pylons in front of the layby, so take care of hitting the wires, and the path down to the beach is steep and slippery, so best only attempt if you have good mobility and decent footwear...

Land owner permission not required.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 58.50934, -4.385841 • what3words: ///barn.rags.drooling


Show All Locations

Service provided by