Wind hill bike park
This Wiltshire gem boasts sandy soil, brilliant blues and gigantic jumps – ideal both for Elite shredders and those looking to earn their wings
TRAIL STATS
Grading
One blue descent, two reds, three blacks and one double-black/pro line
WHY RIDE HERE?
A variety of terrain and some inventive trail building mean there’s an addictively moreish trail for all riders, from beginner to pro level. Friendly staff sweeten the deal.
RAD…
Great value at £10 for the whole day
A wide selection of tracks on a compact site means it’s impossible to get bored
A by-riders, for-riders vibe permeates the park and the staff are just as passionate about MTBing as you are
BAD…
No uplift, so get your pedalling legs (or an e-bike) ready
The two separate grading systems of ‘lozenge’ traffic lights and ski-style colours can be confusing for newbies
Situated in a steep-sided valley next to Longleat House and Safari Park, Wind Hill is a unique riding spot. The first tracks here were unofficial trails built by enthusiastic locals, then the Black Canon Collective was formed to lease the land and create an official gem of a riding/digging spot. Over time, the collective disbanded, paving the way for B1ke – the guys behind Rogate Downhill, Tidworth Freeride and S4P Milford – to take over the venue and expand it into the burgeoning park that exists today.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, though. Criminals have repeatedly broken into the lovinglycrafted timber cabin under the start hill, causing significant damage – all for a few chocolate bars from the tuck shop. Things began to get out of hand when they nicked the quad used by the crew, joyriding it into the woods and destroying it. The situation peaked when the wooden staff building was burned down, wrecking the start hill, too. Thankfully, recent rainfall meant the fire service were able to get the blaze under control before the whole wood caught fire. Undeterred, the good folk of Wind Hill rebuilt the start hill and instated a portable cabin for staff to operate from.
Community spirit
Today, Wind Hill boasts seven trails graded from blue to double-black pro lines, marked push-up routes and some of the raddest jumps in the UK. We asked the DadCamTV crew of Oscar, Billy and Nick to come along and join staff members Luke and Ollie for a day of shredding. None of these riders is shy of a bit of airtime or a cheeky berm-bashing schralp, so we knew that photographer Andy Lloyd would have his hands full if he didn’t want to miss any of the action.
Sure enough, on a ‘gentle’ warm-up run down the ‘Blutopia’ trail, Billy is soon on the ground, spitting out moss, after hitting a berm too hard, while Ollie is quickly finding the limits of his 130mm-travel Cannondale Habit. Nick is clearly enjoying his new Forbidden Druid and is drifting the bike about with confidence. Undeterred by our overzealous attack on the blue, we head over to ‘Empuru’, a favourite trail to session, with 90-degree berms and hipped step-downs that give way to progressively larger doubles and tabletops as you make your way down. We set up camp in the middle of the run, by a carefully-placed push-up track.
Billy and Oz are forming a short, but crazy, train of two, and are scrubbing jumps as hard as physically possible, getting progressively closer together until they actually touch when boosting the big step-up before a right-hand berm. Undeterred, the pair get more and more creative, throwing nac-nacs and suicide no-handers. Not to be outdone, Luke employs his casual flowing style, using his intimate knowledge of the trail to throw precise toboggans on the step-down. Next, we instigate some mega-trains, with all of us riding the bottom section of the track, which has some large doubles.
Everyone is soon throwing their bikes sideways, eliciting some enthusiastic shouts from the onlookers, one of them riding a Rocker BMX with a Hope C2 brake and an e-bike system grafted on – perhaps it’s a West Country thing!
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Locals do…
Wear a full-face if tackling big jumps or gnarly terrain
Ride with friends – Wind Hill is a great place to session, with the push back up making it easy to watch your mates’ runs
Sign up for membership (and therefore insurance) and pay for a day pass, in order to ride the park. Membership is free but needs to be done online, ideally before arrival, as signal is poor at the site
Locals don’t…
Push up on the tracks themselves
Drop litter – common courtesy aside, there are rare animals in the safari park next door and if your crisp packet blows into their enclosure you’re putting this great riding spot at risk
‘Empru’ is addictive and the crew lap it without pause 
MEET THE CREW
Our staff writer loves flow trails and big airtime so Wind Hill is right up his alley
Forbidden-sponsored rider/trail builder Billy runs Vigilante Creations with Oscar and loves unreliable French cars
Affectionately known as ‘Dad’, Nick creates viral marketing campaigns for Rave Coffee and shreds hard!
Oz runs the Vigilante Creations trail building company with Billy, so knows a top track when he sees one
A seasoned European van-life veteran, Luke digs the trails and is a manager at Wind Hill.
A resident coach and trail crew member at Wind Hill, Ollie is super-chatty and rides his Habit faster than is reasonable
TRAILCREW WISDOM
“At Wind Hill, our main aim is to cater for progression. This is shown by our range of trails from blue all the way up to pro-line. We build a lot of the trail features with big and small options, to try and push people and make it easier to progress. There’s a team of four of us working full-time at the park, and we’re great together when building new trails and coming up with different features. With the park only being on a small hill, having no uplift, and a lot of the trails being dug and maintained by hand, I feel like we have the kind of vibe you get at a local trails spot, rather than that big bike park feeling. There’s always a good buzz on the hill and plenty of young talent sending it!”
Ollie leads the charge down the super-fast corners of ‘Payrise’ – a real rollercoaster of a trail 
It’s not just flow trails; there’s some natural gnar for DH racing at Wind Hill, too 
Luke makes the fearsome boner log on ‘Viagra Falls’ look easy
GRAVITY PULLS RIDERS OFF A LARGE STEP-DOWN INTO A QUITE FRANKLY MASSIVE DOUBLE WITH A TAKE-OFF STEEP ENOUGH TO BE A BMX JUMP
In the air tonight
After stopping for some snacks, we turn our attention to ‘Viagra Falls’, Wind Hill’s pro line. This is an intimidating run, not only because it has massive jumps, but because they’re steep and contain lots of directional changes. Heading right off the start hill, it’s important not to go too fast for the hipped wooden step-on-step-off. You’re then into a succession of small yet consequential doubles, before slowing to a crawl for a step-up into a 180-degree berm. Gravity pulls you off a large step-down into a quite frankly massive double with a take-off steep enough to be a BMX jump. Then you have to slow down into an S-berm with a speed roller, before plunging off a stomach-turning blind drop and accelerating massively as you turn right over a roller into the infamous shark-fin feature. After that, it’s time to get on the brakes again before a 180-degree berm into a blind 30ft boner log, which leads into a giant hip.
The next two jumps are the size of freestyle motocross senders, and it takes some serious commitment to hit them. Luke flows effortlessly down the trail like he’s done it hundreds of times before (well, he has), floating over with apparent ease. Oscar takes Luke’s advice and hits all the jumps in the line with style. He’s followed by a nervous Billy, who knows that any lapse in judgment could spell the end for his Forbidden Druid, which only has 130mm of travel.
Impressively, he not only jumps the whole line but also starts throwing some T-bogs and one-footers, quickly joined by Oscar. A local rider joins in and we learn later that he’s only 14 years old. There must be something in the water.
Mind the gaps
Next, Luke guides us to a technical black run, appropriately named ‘Rootiful South’. It’s infested with gnarly roots and undulating bombholes – one of which quickly becomes the site of an impromptu long/high-jump competition. Tracks like these host Wind Hill’s downhill races, so if you fancy challenging yourself on technical terrain, look the events up online. We finish on the newest trail, ‘Pay Rise’. Perhaps one of the digging crew is angling for a raise, because this track has beautifully-sculpted curves and is exactly what the flow trail of an MTBer’s dreams might look like.
Rollers, which can double as gap jumps for the adventurous, fire you into silky-smooth berms, where g-force wrenches at your face and arms as your tyres slide predictably on the sedimentary sand beneath your wheels. Ollie turns on the style and starts boosting the gaps, perfectly and effortlessly landing the final hip.
Wind Hill is a gem. It’s a training ground for more talented groms than you can shake a stick at, an e-bike-friendly weekend warrior’s paradise, a freeride heaven for airtime addicts and a downhill race venue loaded with natural gnar. All this for a tenner a day? Sign us up for a weekender!
THE DIRECTORY
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WIND HILL B1KEPARK
GET THERE
By car: Wind Hill is at Longleat, just off the A36 between Bath and Salisbury, on the A362.
From the South East: exit the M3 (J8) on the A303, then take the A36 towards Bath.
From the South West: Follow the A303 east, take the A350 heading for Warminster and the A36 towards Bath.
From the North: Turn off the M4 (J18) on the A46, then take the A36.
The postcode BA12 7JS gets you close.
By train: Frome is the closest station. Warminster is five miles away and is on the Cardiff to Portsmouth line.
Westbury station is about 12 miles from the park and is on the London Paddington to Penzance line. All the stations are served by taxis.
FACILITIES
Skills coaching, tuck shop with hot and cold drinks, tools and pump, toilets.
BIKESHOP/HIRE
Pronto Bikes, Frome www.prontobikes.co.uk hello@prontobikes.co.uk 01373 471439
CONTACT
www.b1ke.com/b1keparks/windhill windhill@b1ke.com 01985 620411
OTHER RIDING
Okeford Hill Bike Park Trails from blue to doubleblack/pro-line, uplift, toilets.
DT11 0EF (50mins south) www.okefordhillbikepark. co.uk
VERDICT
This homegrown park offers a great selection of trails, from a flowy blue to a scary pro line. The staff are friendly, and there’s even coaching on offer. If you’re prepared to ride up, then Wind Hill is a winner!