Cissbury Ring

Cissbury Ring is one of the largest Iron Age hillforts in England, its huge ramparts crowning a chalk down above Worthing with commanding views over the coastal plain, the sea and the surrounding South Downs. For drone pilots the appeal is obvious: the concentric earthworks photograph beautifully from above, especially in low morning or evening light when the banks and ditches throw long shadows. Skylarks, butterflies and rare chalk grassland flowers thrive here, and the site is both a Scheduled Monument and an SSSI, so tread lightly and keep away from nesting birds in spring and summer. The hilltop is owned and managed by the National Trust, which bans take-off and landing from its land, so many local flyers launch from adjacent public footpaths or nearby non-Trust ground and keep flights brief and low-impact. Parking is in a free National Trust car park at Storrington Rise, from which a short but steep climb reaches the summit. Weekends and sunny evenings draw dog walkers and families. Cissbury sits well outside controlled airspace, roughly nine kilometres from Brighton City (Shoreham) airport, so there is no flight restriction zone to worry about here, though it does lie under the wider Gatwick and Shoreham traffic environment.