Chobham Common — Staple Hill

Chobham Common is one of the largest surviving lowland heaths in southern England, a National Nature Reserve of purple heather, silver birch and open sandy tracks that turns spectacular in August. From the higher ground around Staple Hill you get big, uncluttered skies and a rare sense of wilderness so close to the M3. It has long been popular with model flyers and drone pilots, and the heath's open texture makes for lovely abstract, top-down heather shots. This one needs a careful map, though. Fairoaks aerodrome lies about 5km southeast, and its 2.5km flight restriction zone clips the southern part of the common, so fly from the northern car parks (Staple Hill, off the B383 near Longcross), not the southern end, and verify your position against the CAA map before every flight. As a National Nature Reserve managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust, TOAL consent is expected and there are real fire and ground-nesting bird sensitivities: never fly in high fire risk, keep off the heather on foot, and avoid disturbing birds from March to August. There is no FRZ over Staple Hill itself; Blackbushe is about 7km west and Farnborough about 11km southwest. Come in autumn for the heather colour and early morning for calm air and empty car parks.