Pilot reviews of Compton Abbas Airfield
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5 Sep 19 -
Neil Foreman - Cambridge
| “ | Visited Compton Abbas in September 2019 in a PA28.
The online PPR form didn’t generate a response when submitted so I phoned to make sure it had gone through. But no, it seemed it wasn’t working for some reason - I simply gave my details over the phone.
Beautiful, well kept airstrip. Chose an overhead join, RH circuit for runway 26. A little choppy on the approach with the wind around 300/15 kts and the undulating terrain in the area.
Good instructions on where to park and a great welcome at the control. £10 landing fee and was immediately offered the well known fast track ordering for food and drink as there was a long queue next door in the cafe. Food arrived within minutes, enormous baguettes. Lovely outdoor seating area, popular with many people, families, motorcyclists, just watching the aircraft. A Stearman and a Harvard were amongst the ‘display’.
Straightforward departure, although I picked a busy time - I was number 5 taxiing out.
Overall, a lovely place to fly into - and my son particularly recommends the sausage baguette! ” |
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24 May 14 -
Jeremy Clabon
| “ | We had a great time at the Italian Wings and Wheels last weekend - clearly a huge effort by the AD to attract so many types of a/c, cars and bikes. Excellent food and service, even with the high demand - the pilot fast-track menu worked perfectly. Well done management and staff. ” |
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13 Dec 13 -
Peter Wood - Blandford Forum
| “ | Compton is a fantastic example of the cream of British airfields. A good choice of food and drink, amazing views, quite often interesting aircraft around and friendly and efficient service. Reasonable prices too! ” |
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5 Sep 13 -
Joseph Audcent - Bristol
| “ |  Flew into Compton Abbas from Kemble in a PA28. Fantastic A/G service, very professional sounding - on a par with a full ATC unit in fact. Received a friendly welcome at the desk and enjoyed a few drinks outside in the sun watching others come and go. Wide range of drinks available and good quality food on offer (hot food served from midday to 2:30pm). The airfield looked fantastic with the local scenery and the glorious weather with a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere - top marks all round! ” |
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27 Jun 13 -
keith stoten - cliffe
| “ | A pleasent little airfield in attractive surroundings, busy and cheap to land only £10, food wasn't the cheapest but nice, ” |
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27 May 13 -
paul mortlock - guildford
| “ | A truly excellent airfield, well run and very organised. Runway is a little bumpy but everything is great. Pilots can order food when they sign in and jump the queue which is really helpful when the cafe is busy. ” |
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3 Apr 13 -
john carter
| “ | Pilot flying from Compton Abbas. Visitors should be aware that the Strobe is not always working and Compton Offers only an A/G service. After contacting Compton Radio, further calls to touchdown are prefixed "Compton Traffic". ” |
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2 Oct 12 -
James channell - Lymington
| “ | Compton is a great little airfield. Lovely place to visit with a group for friends, fly in, have lunch! Great A/G and a very warm welcome. quite hard to spot but it has got a high intensity beacon. Also has a Pooleys shop on sight! ” |
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26 Sep 12 -
Stephen Nuttall - 0.5 NM North of Inskip VRP - Fly from Blackpool
| “ |  I made a first visit to Compton Abbas on 1 September as part of the fly-out I had organized for Westair at Blackpool. We flew in in a C172 and out in a DR400. I had heard that Compton was a lovely scenic airfield, but to be honest, that is an understatement.
This has to be one of the prettiest and most stunning locations I have ever been to in England. The views are wonderful from the air and the ground – we loved it.
The café has a great reputation and it is certainly good, but we found the food to be a good average rather than outstanding. However, the service was very friendly and the seating both inside and outside had superb views. On the day we were there, there were two Tiger Moths and a Percival Proctor (in wartime camouflage) parked outside!
The runway is grass and fairly smooth with drops at both ends – look lovely though! The refueling was a bit of a pantomime and we found it hard to follow their way of doing things on a first visit – but they took it in their stride.
I loved this airfield – my ONLY complaint is that it seems to be the only airfield in the UK that I have come across that positively bans dogs. (And I have been to over 100 airfields from farm strips to international airports and had no problems). I’ll just have to leave the greyhounds at home when I next go……!
” |
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25 Jun 12 -
Andrew Green - Taunton
| “ | Visited on 21/6/12 from Dunkeswell, great setting on top of a hill if a little difficult to spot when approaching from the south. Food and drink in the cafe excellent. ” |
20 Jun 12 -
Liam Sandie - Barnsley
| “ |  Visited Compton Abbas from Netherthorpe on 19/06/2012 in G-ROLY a Cessna 172. We routed via the TNT VOR and south. Lots of glider sites to the north west but we avoided them. Difficult to spot initially and the circuit diagram in Pooleys makes it hard to relate to the actual area. We were trying to avoid the noise sensitive areas on the Pooleys plate but ended up too wide we believe.
Anyway once landed on the long but slightly bumpy runway we parked and had a look around. Very clean and tidy, lovely view all around. The airfield is situated on a hill with lots of greenery around.
Lunch was excellent with a gourmet burger really hitting the spot, with a drink there was not much change from £10 though. We ate outside in the sunshine watching the aircraft, including aerobatic aircraft performing above the field.
Taxi into Shaftesbury was around £9.
Nice pilots room where we paid the landing fee and got the book so we could fuel up, this was self service.
Friendly airfield and well worth a visit for the views and area.
” |
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9 Jun 12 -
phil garvey - Woking
| “ | Flew in to Compton Abbas this morning on a windy but clear day. Really picturesque. Helpful A/G. Fantastic restaurant on site for full meals or cakes. £2.05 for Avgas £10 landing fee. They have a pilots only lounge where you can get lots of advice on planning weather etc from the locals.
If you want a small friendly airfield to take friends for a meal or snack you can’t really beat this one.
” |
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12 Aug 11 -
Neil Bassett - Taunton
| “ | I flew into Compton Abbas on 05.08.11. A/G service was good with clear parking instructions after landing. £10.00 landing fee for a PA-28 and I also purchased a copy of their excellent 'Compton Girls Calendar'. The proceeds from this go the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance so it's a very worthy cause. Coffee and cakes were of the usual high standard and A/G was excellent again on departure. ” |
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12 Jun 11 -
David C - Gloucester
| “ |  Took one of my first passengers to this delightful part of the country. Nearby we flew near Bath, Longleat, Glastonbury Festival site, Wells.. loads to see. Helpful A/G on approach told us that heavy showers had made the runway slippery, recommending an early touchdown to give plenty of landing roll, and co-ordinated with other pilots a switch in direction as the wind moved round. Friendly and professional reception, which seemed busy and efficient as usual. Great selection of cakes. We were also treated to a free aerobatics formation display arranged for a wedding reception in a nearby field (advised when I called for PPR). With stunning scenery, this active and vibrant airfield made a very good impression to my guest of what private aviation and getting a PPL is all about. ” |
23 Apr 11 -
Mike Ramsden - Long Itchington (Out of Wellesbourne)
| “ | A gem of an airfield set high on a spur of land in Dorset. Beautiful approach to 08. Despite its popularity, with pilots and the public the friendliness of all concerned was excellent, with no sense of complacency. The food was good quality and very good value and all facilities very good. If you haven't been go. There are great walks to be done from the airfield too. ” |
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7 Apr 11 -
James Palmer - Stoke Mandeville
| “ |  I cannot speak more highly of this airfield. To my mind this is what GA is all about: Friendly/polite when phoning for PPR, great cafe, £10 landing fee (bearing in mind Blackbushe wanted £24 last week), air/ground was concise but helpful, and goodness me what a setting. I will be going back...often ” |
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26 Sep 10 -
Dave Remnant - Denham
| “ | Stopped in for a cuppa and a slice en-route home. Have visited many times before and the welcome is still very pleasant.
Bit too cold with a strong Northerly to sit outside yesterday so amazingly we found a window seat inside (first time for me as this is usually packed). Fairly quick turnaround at the bar but they also have a short cut menu for pilots who don't have a lot of time when you book in. Look out for this as it can be very busy and previously we've had to wait upto 45 mins for nosh.
Got fuel which was very easy and were aided at the pump by a nice chap (didn't get his name).
Marker boards useful for distance left on runway as due to the slope it looks like your going to run out before getting airborne, this reduces that somewhat although with the wind we had no problem.
A jewel of a field with views other airfields envy. ” |
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22 Apr 10 -
dave pharoah - poole
| “ | Very short flight for me from Bournemouth but well worth it. The runway has been improved and was very smooth also has new marker boards every 200m to aid judgement of distance for braking etc. Very friendly and a good menu, highly recommended. ” |
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18 Apr 10 -
Paul Gandy - Heathfield
| “ | Re-visited Compton Abbas today and its as good as ever. its still as hard to spot as ever as well so worthwhile studying the charts and google earth etc before leaving.
Runway in decent condition although the downslope ad a slight tail wind component meant the jabiru floated on forever!
Lots going on, visiting aircraft (and motorcycles) in and all all of the time. Cheap landing fee
The restaurant is still good with an excellent menu.
Recomended. ” |
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18 Oct 09 -
Kevin Lewis - Royston
| “ | I visited Compton Abbas for the first time today. Very polite young lady on the telephone for PPR. The airfield was easy to spot, the flashing strobe is a great help, Interesting circuit, quite wide, but very scenic. I got cut up by a microlight when already established on Final, despite calling finals twice and being acknowledged by AG, same microlight then dawdled on the runway causing me to go around !, still, I got to do that beautiful circuit all over again !. Runway a bit bumpy, but nice and wide. AG and staff on the ground, extremely friendly and helpful, plenty of smiles and some willing hands to push me back after my nosewheel locked (thank you). Sausage baguette was great. I'll defintely be back here again. ” |
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28 Aug 09 -
Sean McMurran - daventry
| “ | Have just flown into Compton Abbas for a quick cuppa and thought it was a great little airfield to visit. Beautiful scenery, although the hairy approach to runway 26 woke us up a little....probably the hairiest approach I have ever done. A lot of windshear on finals and a windspeed that certainly wasn't forecast before we departed home! Staff friendly, great restaurant facilities and will be back, albeit on a slightly calmer day. ” |
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28 Jul 09 -
Lawrence Reynolds
| “ | Not sure what all the fuss is about this grass runway! Visited very recently and hardly felt a bump, seems a bit of work has been done to level it all out. As the old saying goes - a good pilot should be able to land on any surface! as with all the other comments, food and staff were lovely - and it seems that the owners daughters have recently taken up positions as managers there - very nice family orientated place. Will be back soon! ” |
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6 May 08 -
Bob Chapman - North Weald
| “ | I and three friends flew into Compton Abbas on Bank Holiday Monday 5th May from North Weald.
We received a very warm welcome and the food was excellent as was the service.
The runway was surprisingly wet, but we were warned of this when we called for PPR, this was my first visit but it will not be my last, the views from the airfield are stunning and it was great to see the airfield so busy, there were many visitors of the none flying kind, just watching the aircraft and taking pictures as well. A great destination. ” |
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27 Apr 08 -
Keith Parker - Surrey
| “ | Flew down to Compton from Fairoaks with 2 other friends for the first time for lunch last Saturday, the weather was excellent but wind was 12kts from the south which made life a little interesting on final. Loads of people about, food was very good and the very frendly staff. Tigermoths and Pitts doing their bit to entertain the crowds. We could have stayed longer, a great place to visit. ” |
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7 Aug 07 -
graham burrows - piltdown
| “ | just a great place to visit i went on sunday on 5 Aug 07 with mark another member from flying club from shoreham we both have low hours idid find 08 a bit of a challenge, as it was a ssw wind but touch down was smooth, just the approach was a bit of all over the place best place yet,plan to go back in couple of weeks time took vedio with but got it flat battery............? ” |
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7 Aug 07 -
Chris Hunter - salisbury
| “ | I have flown into Compton Abbas on many occassions and find all of the staff to be of a very welcoming and friendly towards visiting pilots and guests. Clive and Annabelle go out of their way to ensure your visit is a good one.
Beautiful scenery surrounds Compton Abbas with stunning escarpments carved into the countryside local to the airfield. Sited on top of a hill 800 odd feet above sea level, take offs on runway 26 are stunning as the land disappears dramatically below you as you climb out over Spread Eagle.
The restaurant is top notch to! Great food and drink. There is a nice patio outside only a few yards from the runway affording an uninhibited view of all arrivals and departures.
I love the place!!
” |
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11 Jun 07 -
Colin Hampson - Goodwood
| “ | Lovely airfield to visit. A great place to take a non-flying passenger. The view is superb, the welcome is very friendly and the facilities are right up there with the best.
Caution: wind sheer on final approach (particularly to 08) particularly when a southerly component is present. Both runways have a downslope towards mid-field, but nothing excessive. Also, there is a piece of concrete (I'm guessing 10ft square) some 200m into 26; It's slightly off to the left-hand side. Best to avoid it unless you want to be launched back from whence you came. ” |
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11 Jun 07 -
Colin Hampson - Goodwood
| “ | Lovely airfield to visit. A great place to take a non-flying passenger. The view is superb, the welcome is very friendly and the facilities are right up there with the best.
Caution: wind sheer on final approach (particularly to 08) particularly when a southerly component is present. Both runways have a downslope towards mid-field, but nothing excessive. Also, there is a piece of concrete (I'm guessing 10ft square) some 200m into 26; It's slightly off to the left-hand side. Best to avoid it unless you want to be launched back from whence you came. ” |
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30 May 07 -
ROGER CHAMBERLAIN - Warwick
| “ | Very picturesque, with interesting museum on site. A great place to spend a sunny afternoon. ” |
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19 Apr 07 -
Matthew Alsop - Torquay. ex-PPL. Flew from Plymouth 2005 to 2010.
| “ | Visited Compton Abbas in April 2007. The airfield wasn't too difficult to find arriving from the South West. Very good A/G radio service and the landing fee was not too expensive. The airfield is set in stunning scenery and well worth a visit on a day with good visibility. I had a main meal at lunch time for around £7.00 and it was very good so I highly recommend the restaurant. There was some building work under way at the club house so I expect it will be even better soon than it is already. The only negative thing I have to mention is that the grass runway surface was rather bumpy....in fact it was terrible and our PA38 didn't like it at all. I've not used many grass landing strips but it was certainly the worst I've seen so far. ” |
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30 Jul 06 -
Tim Evans - Telford
| “ | A pleasent little airfield in attractive surroundings, busy and cheap to land at (there was a MG owners convention in the car park whilst I was there). However, my Arrow didn't like the poor landing surface - be prepared to hit plenty of big bumps on take off and on landing which makes things a bit fruity. You want to get off that surface as fast as possible!. Perhaps having made a couple of trips Sywell I've been spoiled?.
Oh, the food is expensive. I forked out £4.50 for an adequate sausage sandwich. ” |
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12 Nov 05 -
Joe Edwards - Cheltenham - fly from Gloucestershire Airport
| “ | Went here this morning from Gloucestershire. Called for PPR before we left and had a good chat with plenty of good info on which bit of the runway was best ! In on 26. As it was my first grass strip landing - didn't feel as bumpy as I was expecting. Great and humourous staff greeted us to take my £8 landing fee. Couple of delightful ladies served tea and a much needed sausage bagette (NOTE - no bacon butties after 11 !!). Watch others enjoy the delightful weather outside. Is this really November in the Northern hemisphere ! (11C). Just after power checks treated to a runway beat up by 2 YAK's in formation..... Easy take off (advised to keep to the left of 26 for a better run and aim for the hill to the NW once off the ground). On my list of great places to be. ” |
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29 Aug 05 -
Nick .
| “ | flew in to Compton Abbas last week on the way home from france for a fuel stop as they are open until sunset, and cheaper to land than bournmouth. lovely location and very interesting collection of planes and a mussem there. there was a YAK aeros display just after landing that was wotht a look.
the only thing a did note was the grass runway was rather bumpy for landing and take off compared to other grass strips been to.
worth a visit ” |
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23 Jul 05 -
Emmet Hart - Milton Keynes
| “ | I've flown into Compton Abbas twice during the past couple of months and can vouch for it being everything people say about it.
The location is superb, the food excellent, and the staff cannot do enough to help. It can ba a little difficult to locate on a sunny day, however it's worth the effort of making the trip.
Highly recommended. ” |
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19 Jul 05 -
Phil Reah - Hailsham, East Sussex
| “ | So many people say it's worth a visit, I thought I'd follow the crowd...
It's certainly an attractive little airfield. The way the ground drops away from the field gives great views whilst sat under the wing eating sandwiches. The locals are friendly and ready to offer advice. Didn't get chance to try the food, but there was a good mug of tea.
Interesting landing... the runway's a bit bumpy and with a crosswind I didn't win any spot landing prize. The slope didn't effect the approach as much as I expected though. ” |
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18 Jul 05 -
Andy Williss - Forest Hill, London
| “ | After reading lots of reviews and hearing lots of good reports about the airfield I set of for my first visit on 16th July. The landing was very smooth apart from the slight down hill gradient - not at all apparent from the air. This resulted in me floating almost a 1/4 of the way down the runway. Once on the ground the facilites are excellant as are the veiws of the surrounding area, well worth the trip. Takeoff was a rather bumpy affair and a little unnerving if you’re not used to grass strips. ” |
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22 Jun 05 -
Nick Wright - Andover
| “ | As a result of comments on this site and others i knew my first vist would be tricky when i called and was advised of southerly wind i was prepared for the worst .Finals was a fight and i tried to hit the numbers but floated for what seemed an age .I dropped onto the grass and i let out a shout for joy!only to hit a bump and be thown 5 ft in the air again.We settled back down again and turned off and parked.I suggested to a guy taking photos i pay him to destroy evidence of my arrival.He told me the last 10 arrivals had been identical ! Had a splendid cup of tea at this lovely place. ” |
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20 Jun 05 -
Richard Travis - Hove
| “ |  19th June 2005: After a very hot and busy flight from Shoreham, the laid-back RT at Compton Abbas was delightfully simple, mostly from pilot to pilot! The airstrip was unbelievably bumpy, and it was only when watching other landings from our lunch table that we realised we were not the only ones to struggle to float onto a downhill runway (08). A beautiful day, sun, aerobatics from the Moth, hunting birds catching their lunch and us eating ours. A great visit. ” |
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14 Jun 05 -
Graham Stokes - Hullavington
| “ | What a fantastically friendly airfield.
Not too hard to find, a good cafe/bar/restaurant with a lovely view. Well worth the landing fee, with reasonably priced fuel too. There are a lot of airfields in the south west which could learn a lot from Compton Abbas.
As Arnie would say; I'll (definitely) be back ! ” |
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29 May 05 -
Steven Mitchell - Fly from Netherthorpe
| “ | Been there at last. Eventually got there with my dad, not a bad pilot really, but not as good as me!! The airfield was a lot busier than when I learnt to fly there, not even a seat for a cup of tea and a cake, very nice by the way. I think a longer trip from Netherthorpe could be the order of the day sooner rather than later. ” |
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29 Mar 05 -
Mick Mitchell
| “ | Well...just having read my son's review, visited Compton 28/3/05..but not with him!. Lots of activity which made for interesting landing and departure!. Will visit again when/if my son gets his act together and requalifies! ” |
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17 Feb 05 -
Steven Mitchell - Fly from Netherthorpe
| “ | I learnt to fly at Compton many years ago courtesy of the RAF!!! It was a very friendly place with great instructors, seem to remember one instructor was a little mad! Once I have revalidated my license this is the first place I will fly with my newly qualified dad. ” |
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27 Jan 05 -
smorley - Staines
| “ | Good basic grub in caff. Superb position to watch goings on.
Landing fee and lunch bought if you get your aircraft cleaned there. ” |
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11 Jul 03 -
Graham Skeats - Getting bolder every day
| “ | Flew in on 22 Jun, Air Race weekend so a tight arrival slot, and couldn't have enjoyed myself more despite the overcrowding. Nice helpful people and a museum too. And possibly the best view from an airfield in the country. Madonna should go there and learn to fly instead of whingeing about the (very minimal - she should try living in a helicopter MATZ) noise. ” |
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2 Jul 03 -
James Kilford - UKGA Editor
| “ | Took a detour into Compton Abbas on Sunday. Very friendly as usual, and the added bonus of two Yaks doing formation aerobatics over the field about 5 mins after I arrived! Bit bumpy on the approach to 08. ” |
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14 Jun 03 -
Andrew - UKGA Contributor
| “ | Visited today and a really nice friendly GA aerodrome that made us very welcome. Landing fee was £8 (inclusive of VAT). Will definitely go again and probably camp overnight. ” |
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