St Monans, East Neuk of Fife

The East Neuk fishing villages are made for aerial photography, and St Monans is the best of them for a pilot: a zigzag stone breakwater, a huddle of crow-stepped cottages around the harbour, the Auld Kirk sitting almost in the sea, and a restored windmill on the coastal path east of the village above old salt-pan remains. Launch from the grassy coastal path by the windmill — outside the huddle of houses — and you can shoot the harbour geometry, the tidal swimming pool below the windmill, and long views up the Forth to the Isle of May and Bass Rock. Low tide exposes rock skerries in patterns that work beautifully top-down; high tide at golden hour gives the breakwater its classic reflected zigzag. Airspace: RAF Leuchars' FRZ covers north-east Fife around St Andrews, but St Monans sits roughly 14km south of it — outside, though it is worth a NOTAM check as military traffic works this coast. The nuance here is people, not rules: the village itself is a congested area in CAA terms, so a sub-250g/C1 drone is the right tool, and even then keep off the narrow streets and fly the harbour from the seaward side, avoiding direct overflight of folk on the pier. Winter weekday mornings you will have it entirely to yourself. Haar (sea fog) can roll in fast off the Forth in spring and early summer — watch the horizon.