It is normal to find a hot air balloon ride company that offers a champagne toast at the conclusion of your flight, there are many that will arrange for a hamper style picnic or a continental breakfast which can be arranged on booking. A hot air balloon flight is an unforgettable experience, from the incredible sensation of the initial launch, floating into the sky and seeing the beauty of the countryside drifting by you below, followed by the thrill of landing. It is quite common when people have experienced their first Hot Air Balloon Ride in the UK to wish for real hands on experience and become part of the crew and help prepare the balloon for launch and pack it up again at the conclusion of the ride.

Hot Air Ballooning UK wide can take place at most times of the year but remember to put on layers of clothing should you be taking part in an early morning flight. Bring your camera and be ready for the thrill of a lifetime. Contact us at Balloons over Britain and tell us if you want to arrange a special or romantic Hot Air Balloon Ride and we endeavour to fulfil your wishes.

It used to be the boy who stood on the station platform and watched the big steam trains who said “one day I want to be an engine driver”, more likely now he would be saying that he wanted to be a pilot.

Piloting a Hot Air Balloon requires lots of training by qualified instructors, all of whom are of course qualified CAA registered Hot Air Balloon Pilots. The route that most people take to begin with is to become part of the crew which is vital in any Hot Air Balloon ride operation. Since balloons drift with the wind, their pilots can’t simply turn around and fly home when they’re ready. A two or three-person crew helps the pilot rig the equipment, holds open the envelope while it fills with cold air, and applies weight to the outside of the basket as needed before launch. Then they follow the balloon on the ground, and after the landing help the pilot pack everything up and bring it home again.

Why not get the “feel” of it by taking a Hot Air Balloon Ride from one of the many local locations that we can offer through our national voucher scheme. You never know, you could be flying one of our balloons one day!

With the onset of cheap digital cameras, photography has never been more popular or for that matter easier to take, add these to a computer, or to have processed. Most people have a mobile phone many of which have a camera facility some of which produce excellent pictures.

For a long time there has been a following by photographers, both professional and amateur, to take pictures of Hot Air Balloons which are not only magnificent but extremely colourful. The shapes of Hot Air Balloons come in many forms castles, bottles cartoon characters, for example. Balloon festivals are a good place where you could go along and take photographs, see the launch of the balloons, look at and record a nightglow spectacular. But better still, take a Hot Air Balloon Ride through one of our local operators and photograph your fellow passengers and the earth below.

A visually spectacular show featuring Hot Air Balloons, a Night Glow event is something that once seen is rarely forgotten. Crowds at the Coliseum in Rome have recently been treated to an event at which the surrounds of the famous Coliseum were illuminated in a synchronised night glow festival.

A night glow is an event that is often held as a climax to a hot air balloon festival. The balloons are set up at sunset in the launch area, which has to be large enough to accommodate dozens of Hot Air Balloons. The Hot Air Balloons are firmly anchored to the ground and the propane burners are ignited periodically to keep the balloons inflated with hot air. Because this is a night event, the balloons glow like huge light bulbs, giving a memorable display for those present, a lively and visually spectacular event not to be missed.

What attracts peoples’ attention perhaps more than any other is the site of a Hot Air Balloon flying overhead or nearby. For this reason more companies are turning to this visual form of telling others about themselves or their products. Can imagine your corporate colours or logo ascending into the skies accompanied by the roar of the burners?

At Balloons over Britain we have our own design specialists who will individually tailor special shape balloons to cater for just about every design, more importantly we have a wealth of experience in making Hot Air Balloons the centre of attention, irrespective of the marketing forum.

Increasingly companies are turning to rewarding both customers and their employees by offering them Hot Air Balloon flights, so what could be better than to do it in your own Hot Air Balloon, with your logo in distinctive shape?

A balloon is a powerful corporate tool, why not contact us to see just how we can help you find new customers, reward existing ones or simply increase their spending with you?

Over the past few weeks we have been experiencing very high winds which are somewhat out of character for this time of year, but they do happen. When winds strengthen to a certain point it becomes unsuitable for Hot Air Ballooning and your operator will consider that it is not safe for the launch to take place. It must be understood that ballooning is very weather dependent and you should always phone the Operator prior to the flight to check the weather and to see if the flight is to take place. If it is unsuitable, you simply rebook for another convenient day. Most operators offer the facility to make balloon flight bookings and re-bookings on-line through their websites.

Operators always try to make decisions about their flights in plenty of time for the participants, who may be a couple of hours away from the launch site. Whether after a weather postponement, or even before your first flight date, providing you give the Operator you have registered with 3 working days notice, you can change to another Balloons over Britain Operator. All passenger transfers are dealt with direct between the passenger and the relevant Balloons over Britain office.

Whether you are thinking of a present for someone who seems to have everything or just a gift for someone special it can often be difficult to give them something that is that bit different very much out of the ordinary. Hot air balloon flights do that, in fact it has been described as one of the ten things that most people want to do in their lifetime.

Balloons over Britain have there answer to the problem of, not just providing that hot air balloon ride, but offering it through their UK wide group of operators. We can supply you with a gift certificate which is a popular year round choice to be used by the recipient when they find it convenient to them, importantly from a launch site which is local to them. Our Balloon Flight certificates are also transferable, so if the recipient cannot make it on the day of the launch, the operator may be able to reschedule the flight, but in most cases this can be transferred to another person.

All you have to do is to contact us and we will tell you about the full range that is available, from a locality that will suit the lucky recipient.

You really could not make it up but it is true!  Over the weekend of the 5/6th July a man in Oregon in USA has flown 235 miles in a garden chair supported by 235 helium filled party balloons. The launch was achieved by throwing out ballast, not the conventional sand filled bags, but bottles of coke, more bizarrely landing was achieved by using a ball bearing pellet gun to shoot the balloons one at a time, until he settled slowly to earth, it could only happen in the U.S.

At Balloons over Britain we absolutely guarantee that when you choose your Hot Air Balloon flight in the UK through one of our local operators, you will not stand in a basket supported by party balloons and your fully qualified pilot will not have a ball bearing gun to help him descend safely to earth. Contact us and we tell you about our flight voucher scheme which will enable you, or the recipient of a gift, to fly from a locality of their choosing at time when it suits them. 

Flying a hot air balloon UK wide is a speciality of Balloons over Britain, we have been doing it since 1991 and we fly from more local sites than any other single operator. Whilst we cannot guarantee that it is from the field down the road our operator will choose the launch site that takes into account the conditions of the day. Naturally he has to avoid obvious restrictions for instance air traffic control zones, or avoid landing in areas that are unsuitable. Another consideration is that conditions do vary from day to day, you operator may have more than one launch site and you will be advised on the day you are to fly which is the one chosen.

Buying a Hot Air Balloon Flight in the UK through Balloons over Britain could not be easier, our UK wide vouchers will allow you to choose from where you want to take part in a Hot Air Balloon ride and we will advise you of all the localities from which you can choose for this thrill of a lifetime.

Whatever balloon event takes your fancy, you can be sure that Balloons over Britain will be able to accomplish this for you. Flying over 40,000 people annually, few if any, can better their knowledge and experience operating as the national company that they are, but with a group of local operators sharing the umbrella.

A familiar problem in this country has to be the weather which can mean that it may be too windy or inclement to fly in a Hot Air Balloon. But Balloons over Britain overcame this problem with its national voucher scheme, which allows customers to take up a previously cancelled trip anywhere in the country, so if you had decided upon a Hot Air Balloon flight at a holiday destination, if this is  cancelled it is possible to take it at your own locality later.

An added attraction that is offered by Balloons over Britain is that now when the British Hot Air Ballooning season is over, traditionally March through October, you can enjoy this wonderful experience abroad in places such as Africa, the Swiss Alps or perhaps that special balloon flight wedding in Florida. Contact us for full details of British and foreign Hot Air Balloon flights.