Coaley Peak (Frocester Hill)

Coaley Peak, also known as Frocester Hill, is a grassy Cotswold escarpment viewpoint and picnic site above Nympsfield, with the Nympsfield Long Barrow nearby and enormous views west over the Severn Vale to the Forest of Dean and Wales. Managed as a public country park by Gloucestershire, it is refreshingly straightforward compared with much of this heavily National Trust-owned escarpment, with a decent car park and open grass to launch from, though you should still fly considerately around picnickers, dog walkers and the paragliders who use the scarp when the westerly blows. There is no Flight Restriction Zone here, with Gloucestershire Airport around 24km northeast, so you are in open class G airspace. The escarpment generates strong ridge lift and turbulent lee-side air in a west wind, so pick a calmer day and keep well back from the edge and the tree line. The site is a limestone-grassland nature area, so avoid disturbing wildlife and stick to the open grass. Late afternoon and sunset are the highlight, when the low sun floods the Severn Vale and silhouettes the ridge, offering some of the best panoramic light in the Cotswolds.