About Coombe Hill

Coombe Hill is part of the escarpment forming the north-western edge of the Chilterns overlooking the Oxford plains.  Coombe Hill itself has both western and northern slopes, with a war memorial on the north-western point where these slopes meet.  However the northern slope is very overgrown, which makes launching difficult but once away, it works very well.
The western slope flies in any wind from SW to NW.  Due to another parallel ridge which runs from the south, but terminates opposite Coombe Hill, the flying is better in winds from W to NW; but SW to W winds are very much flyable with a wide range of planes.
Landing is generally on the top of the slope - there are trees at the back of the slope.  It is possible to fly behind the first line of trees and land on a flat strip of land.  This flat area behind the slope may offer a novice an easier option for landing but care must be taken to check for other users - a helper is an advantage. The hill is probably not suitable for very fast models (there are unlikely to be any F3F meets held here!) or very large models with no brakes.  Most gliders with crow braking or slot brakes can be landed quite easily.  For example an X-Models Blade (1.9M, fast-ish) or a Multiplex Flamingo (2.8M, semi-scale with airbrakes) are no problem.