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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.

Where to fly your drone

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Meadowbank Park, Mole Valley (By grandad1950)

Meadowbank Park is a very large park in the centre of Dorking. In addition to the usual sports pitches and playgrounds there is a large lake to explore.

Dorking Wanderers stadium is also in the park.

Lots of room to fly and parking is free on Sundays.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.23587, -0.329053 • what3words: ///gladiators.oval.oven

Knaresborough Castle, Harrogate (By JockyB)

Knaresborough Castle. Lovely place to fly. Nice views across the River Nidd to the railway bridge crossing.
During the week this is inside a warning zone for Yorkshire Dales LFZ ( 08:00- 1700hrs) check on Dronescene, but honestly if an aircraft is flying at a height that interferes with your flight, then that pilot has more problems than you have. 😂😂

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 54.00692, -1.469346 • what3words: ///washroom.grudges.held

Blaen y Glyn waterfall, Powys (By gasbag43)

Blaen y Glyn waterfall is within Talybont Forest in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park.

You can walk to Blaen y Glyn waterfall from either of two car parks - Blaen y Glyn Isaf is the lower car park and Blaen y Glyn Uchaf is the upper car park - the location mapped here is the lower car park.

The walk up to the beautiful waterfall takes about 20 minutes - there are plenty of other waterfalls in the area, but most have extensive tree cover that make flying a drone challenging

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.84441, -3.363748 • what3words: ///nerves.marketing.initiates

Thistle Viaduct, Carlisle (By Trainman)

Border Counties Railway viaduct opened 1862 and closed 1969. Only the Down line remains the Up line side of the viaduct was removed soon after closure.
I parked at the church and walked to the viaduct along the river side.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 55.04687, -2.955773 • what3words: ///draining.stunt.inch

Kirklinton Hall, Carlisle (By Trainman)

Interesting old building with a bit of a past history . Ample parking and cafe on site , l emailed the owner via their website and was granted permission to fly . Extremely friendly response to my request.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 54.99817, -2.883697 • what3words: ///failed.varieties.tinned

Priory Park Reigate, Reigate and Banstead (By grandad1950)

A very large park in the centre of Reigate. An interesting old priory, lots of formal gardens, a large lake and a very good Cafe awaits your visit

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.23524, -0.206248 • what3words: ///orchestra.remind.drain

Gray Hill stone circle, Monmouthshire (By gasbag43)

High up on the edge of Wentwood in Wales overlooking the Severn Estuary, lies the Gray Hill Stone Circle which dates back to the Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago

The circle itself is around 32 feet in diameter, with nine stones laid out on the circumference. Unlike some stone circles where the stones stand tall and proud, these stones rest on their sides, forming a low wall. One intriguing feature is a solitary standing stone positioned just outside the circle, accompanied by a larger "outlier" stone nearby. Archaeologists believe this outlying stone may have served as a marker or even part of an entrance to a chamber tomb once located within the circle.

The presence of the fallen stones within the circle adds another layer of mystery, hinting at a potential chamber tomb that time may have worn away.

The circle itself is worth a visit, but just 100 meters away at the summit of the hill is a perfect alternative TOAL location for Wentwood Reservoir with a much higher starting altitude than from the car park as marked on Drone Scene

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.63755, -2.813358 • what3words: ///annual.alley.bleaching

Reigate Castle, Reigate and Banstead (By grandad1950)

Little left of the castle but the well kept Keep gives a great vantage point to look at the castle grounds and Reigate

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.23913, -0.207193 • what3words: ///unity.glory.thick

Caversham Bridge, Reading (By Kirky)

Caversham bridge set in a lovely surrounding with the river Thames running through, its a lovely walk along the Thames, with a cafe on the corner of Richfield avenue that serves good food all day, can get very busy at most times of the year with visitors dog walkers & families feeding the ducks & swans so be mindful of that, has a hotel right next to it & pretty much everything within a couple of minutes walking distance which is great for a day out, I know this place well & have been a visitor for the last 50 years plus, also in the summer you have a local ice cream van here with refreshments, the only time id try to avoid is when reading festival is on as it can be mayhem, other than that well worth a visit & a great attraction .

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 51.46628, -0.976925 • what3words: ///varieties.lived.going

Helm crag Grasmere, South Lakeland (By D0c.Col)

Helm Crag is a fell in the English Lake District situated in the Central Fells to the north of Grasmere. Despite its low height it sits prominently at the end of a ridge, easily seen from the village. This, combined with the distinctive summit rocks which provide the alternative name 'The Lion and the Lamb', makes it one of the most recognised hills in the District.

There are plenty of websites that list walks to this great summit the easiest of which start in Grasmere.

Parking is a premium in Grasmere but there is a layby just off the A591 at the North end of the village.

View and discuss this location on Grey Arrows.

Co-ordinates: 54.47467, -3.040595 • what3words: ///bounding.submits.panting


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