Croft Hill

Croft Hill is a modest 128-metre granite bump with outsized value, because Leicestershire is a desert for legal launches: Bradgate Park bans drones outright and the county council's country parks like Beacon Hill expect permission. Croft Hill, by contrast, is CRoW open access land where a hobbyist can walk up from the road and TOAL without drama. The draw is the extraordinary juxtaposition next door — Croft Quarry, one of the largest granite voids in Europe, drops away immediately east of the summit in banded pink terraces with milky turquoise water at the bottom. Respect the boundary: it's a working Aggregate Industries site, so keep clear of the pit edge, plant and any blasting operations, and shoot the quarry obliquely from over the hill rather than pushing deep across the void. Otherwise it's easy flying over open grassland with 360-degree views across south Leicestershire and, on sharp days, the city skyline. Leicester Airport's zone sits about 16 km east and East Midlands' FRZ roughly 30 km north — both irrelevant at this range. Quiet on weekdays, dog walkers at weekends, and skylarks nest in the rough grass, so pick bare-ground TOAL spots in spring.