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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...

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. Landowner permission may be required before taking off.

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Sixfields Stadium, Northampton (By richrab)

Sixfields Stadium is an 8,203-capacity all-seater sports stadium in the Sixfields area on the west side of Northampton, England. It has been the home ground of Northampton Town Football Club following their move from the County Ground in October 1994. It was also rented by Coventry City between July 2013 and August 2014. Aside from being a sports venue, Sixfields also houses conference facilities.

It is now in the middle of a comprehensive leisure park with lots of places to eat.

TOAL was in the Odeon car park, out of the way.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 52.23515, -0.933559 • what3words: ///traded.logic.later

St. John the Baptist Church, Vale of White Horse (By gasbag43)

St. John the Baptist Church in Kingston Bagpuize has a history spanning over 700 years, with the current building erected in 1799-1800 on the site of earlier churches. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was funded by the Blandy family, who were Lords of the Manor and owners of Kingston Bagpuize House.

The first church on the site was built shortly after the Norman Conquest, likely between 1076 and 1099, by Ralf de Bachepuise and Adelelm. The original church served the community for nearly 700 years before being replaced.

The present church was built in the late 18th century and was completed in 1800.

The church is a Grade II listed building, recognizing its historical and architectural significance.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.68021, -1.41228 • what3words: ///reserve.sprayer.sunflower

Kingston Bagpuize House, Vale of White Horse (By gasbag43)

Situated in the Vale of the The White Horse and surrounded by its beautiful garden and parkland, it is an early Georgian family home. It was built in the 1660s and later remodelled

To this day, Kingston Bagpuize House remains a family home. Surrounded by garden and parkland this beautiful early Georgian style house is in red brick with stone quoins, banding and window surrounds.

The gardens are notable for an large collection of plants, while the raised terrace walk lead the visitor to the 18th-century pavilion

The House and grounds offer exclusive use for weddings, private and corporate events and filming (including scenes in Bridgerton; Emma by Jane Austen; ITV’s Downton Abbey, BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time and Tortoise in Love.)

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.67854, -1.412408 • what3words: ///gears.compound.gong

King George V playing Fields, Guildford (By grandad1950)

King George V playing fields is a multi sport area with rugby, tennis, athletics, football etc. Loads of space in the lovely parklands. Close to Leatherhead in Surry.

Loads of room to fly

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.27037, -0.39436 • what3words: ///owls.mutual.stop

National Lift Tower and Franklin's Gardens Rugby Ground, Northampton (By richrab)

The National Lift Tower (previously called the Express Lift Tower) is a lift-testing tower built by the Express Lift Company (a lifts division of the General Electric Company off Weedon Road in Northampton, England. The structure was commissioned in 1978 with construction commencing in 1980 and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 12 November 1982. It has been a Grade II Listed Building since 1997
Designed by architect Maurice Walton of Stimpson Walton Bond, the tower is 127.5 metres (418 ft 4 in) tall, 14.6 m (47 ft 11 in) in diameter at the base and tapers to 8.5 m (27 ft 11 in) at the top. The only lift-testing tower in Britain, and one of only two in Europe.

Franklin's Gardens (currently known for sponsorship purposes as cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens) is a purpose-built rugby stadium in Northampton, England. It is the home stadium of Northampton Saints and Loughborough Lightning. The stadium holds 15,249 people. It is also a conference, meeting, and events venue, as well as the only Premiership Rugby ground with its own cenotaph, the setting for a ceremony every Remembrance Weekend.

I was at max allowed height, so could not get a top down picture of the tower.

Quite a strange location as the tower is in the centre of a hosing estate, parked on the street in between the tower and the stadium

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 52.23885, -0.921164 • what3words: ///sticks.trails.spend

West Bay, West Dorset (By richrab)

West Bay, originally known as Bridport Harbour, is a small harbour settlement and resort on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England, sited at the mouth of the River Brit approximately 1.5 miles south of Bridport. The area is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site.

The beach and harbour were quite busy so TOAL was from public carpark back from the seafront.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 50.71082, -2.762831 • what3words: ///paradise.gratitude.magnum

Charmouth, West Dorset (By richrab)

Charmouth is a delightful unspoilt seaside village set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with a fantastic beach world renowned for its fossils.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 50.73355, -2.900051 • what3words: ///cult.degrading.wiggly

Kings mill, Horsham (By grandad1950)

Kings Mill or Shipley mill is a traditional smock mill built in 1879. Tricky access as the local path is closed and so a bit of a trek across the fields of Knepp Estate is needed

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 50.98486, -0.372586 • what3words: ///pitching.crackling.hormones

Pittenweem Harbour, St Monans and Pittenweem (By outRAGEis)

Really easy access to the harbour. Just park up at the Crazy Golf and it's free for 2 hours which is more than enough time to get down to the harbour. Follow the path down and within 5 minutes you're there ready to fly and the harbour and village are small so there's not too many tourists around either.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 56.21175, -2.728295 • what3words: ///fewer.rinse.tomorrow

The Lindsay / Lord Wantage Monument, Vale of White Horse (By gasbag43)

Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage, was a soldier, politician and philanthropist.

He co-founded the British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War, which later became the British Red Cross. He was also the first man to win a Victoria Cross in the Crimean War

He died in 1901. Lady Wantage erected a monument to Lord Wantage in 1903.

The monument stands on a Bronze Age round barrow adjacent to the Ridgeway at Betterton Down near Lockinge, Oxfordshire.

As well as the historical significance of the monument, the Ridgeway national trail and the ancient barrow on which it stands, the area is surrounded by gentle rolling Oxfordshire countryside and beech tree clumps

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.55659, -1.390071 • what3words: ///replaying.signs.earl


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