Thinking about giving the gift of a balloon ride, but can’t decide which balloon flights operator would be best? You’re not alone! In order to select a company to take you up (or the recipient up), you need to know which launch site they are willing to travel to. When buying a balloon experience for a friend, family or loved one, particularly when it’s a surprise gift, you need to ascertain first where abouts in the country they would be willing to fly from and doing this without giving away the surprise is next to impossible‼ (If however you have a way of finding this information out, please let us know so that we can pass this information onto our customers!) The answer is to purchase a National Voucher, rather than a local voucher.

Balloons Over Britain have been in operation since 1991 and are the UK’s largest and longest established balloon flight operators providing a nationwide ballooning network covering Scotland to the South West and Wales to the Wash. All our local balloon operators have earned their Air Operators Certificates awarded to them by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), this certification is granted to fare-paying-passenger carrying organisations that satisfy the organisational and safety requirements required by the CAA. You’ll find that our operators offer a range of hot air balloons to accommodate from 2 to 16 passengers, so that you can enjoy an intimate affair or a party in the sky to remember. All you need to do is decide when your special someone would prefer to fly.

We offer Weekday Morning Vouchers for £89 per person, Weekday vouchers enabling you to fly at sunrise or sunset for £115 per person and Anytime vouchers giving the lucky recipient the choice to fly…anytime! These are available for £129 per person. Why not jazz it up a little more and offer your surprise gift as a Balloon-in-a-box?! We will attach the voucher(s) by ribbon to an 18″ (45cm) metallic foil balloon which can read any of the following; “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Birthday”, “Congratulations!” and “Happy Anniversary”! Everything will be packed into a candy striped box and dispatched by either first class post or Royal Mail Special Delivery (as selected by you at the checkout). Then, when the box is received and opened, out will float the balloon reading your celebratory message, and hanging below it will be those ‘golden’ tickets! With other more specific balloon messages available along with Next Day Special Delivery options, this is a snip at just £15!

Have you flown with us before? If so, here at Bailey Balloons we’d love to hear back from you! Your feedback means the world to us, good or bad! We like to know how we can improve our service and know we can only do this with the help of our customer’s constructive guidance and of course we need to be told where we are getting it right so that we can keep doing so! Why not get in touch with us by phone on 01275 375 300, by email: info@baileyballoons.co.uk or by leaving your comments on this post. We love to hear our flyers memoirs of the day’s events, some of the stories we here are truly engaging and some have even made it into our articles! So come on over and tell us about your experiences!

Although we take professional in flight photographs during our flights, we LOVE to see our flyers own photographs of the day’s events. So if you remembered to bring your camera, and you captured some shots during the flight, good or bad, please take a moment to send them over to us, we might even upload them to our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/baileyballoons) but not without your permission if course! So if you enjoyed the thrill and exhilaration of your personal day of ballooning, we’d love you to share your photos and memories with our prospective flyers, we’ll even display them on our website! What’s more, if you flew with other passengers, you will even have the opportunity to view their photos from the same flight! When sending please remember to include the date and location of your flight so that we can tally your photo’s and comments up with others and our own.

Fancy a little sequel flight incentive? How’s about this?! You can enjoy another (wholly unique) ballooning experience with us accept this time, as you’re honouring us with your presence and loyalty again, we’d like to offer you a little bonus. If you’d like to commemorate another special day with us, celebrate another loved ones big day, create a magical moment with someone special or write history for the kids, the grandkids even, then why not try a different location or different time of day with us? Enjoy the true beauty of ballooning in our vast skies again with a discount of 15% when booking with Bailey Balloons! This may be worth considering as a Christmas present, or Birthday maybe, or better still, the perfect way to pop the question? To take advantage of our special offer, please ring our booking office on 01275 375300, where one of our friendly team will be happy to help.

Broadland Balloons offer champagne balloon flights over East Anglia which boasts an enchanting mix of idyllic countryside, historic market towns and breathtaking coastline. We have launch sites in both Suffolk and Norfolk where you can enjoy sights such as the famous Broads National Park with their wildlife reserves, the cities two Cathedrals and Norman Castle, The Broads (which is a tranquil area of waterways and the largest area of protected wetlands in the UK) including woodland, fens, salt marshes and rivers which are home to many species of birds and wildlife, Wymondham Abbey, Norman castle, Pennings Local Nature Reserve and the beautiful Thornham Walled, or Bressingham, gardens.

Our prices start from as little as £89 per person for a weekday morning champagne balloon flight voucher and go up to as much as £795 for an exclusive champagne balloon flight for two (The ultimate VIP way to fly; just 2 passengers, the pilot, and champagne floating through the early morning sky!) This is ideal for proposals or special celebrations.

Some people however prefer to join our Flexible Fliers list, rather than purchasing their vouchers in advance. This is great for customers who have a more flexible lifestyle, and anyone on this list will be contacted by email, telephone or text message when we have last minute availability to see if you’d like to take the opportunity. Bear in mind however, this could be anywhere between a couple of days before the flight to a couple of hours! Don’t worry however, there’s no obligation to accept any offer of a flight, we just put the feelers out and you give us the nod! What’s more, you pay nothing until you accept a place! Choosing to fly this way means that when we suggest a day to you, you can go ahead when the timings right for you, working around your finances and your commitments. We will continue to contact you until you fly or until you tell us that you no longer require a flight with us.

Interested? Simply fill in the flexible flyers form online or call us on 01603 495004 for bookings or information. We look forward to hearing from you!

At Balloons Over Britain booking your long dreamed of balloon flight couldn’t be easier, in fact not only have we made it easy, but we’ve also made every effort to give you all the tools you need to find out everything you need to know about us, our member flights companies and ballooning itself! You will find a great About Us section which presents you with our personal information from our history, our years of experience, our unrivalled safety record to the certificates and awards we have been issued. There you can also find our full list of member companies so that you can see which company will fly you depending on the location you choose. Each company has its own website where you can find out all about them, their own experience, records and certification, along with their list of launch sites and available dates. You will also have the facility to book online on each of their websites should you choose, alternatively they all have clearly displayed telephone numbers for your reference.

At Balloons Over Britain you will be able to update yourself on our most recent news, facts and figures and even buy national or local vouchers which enable you to select your destination at a later date. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3; buy your voucher, choose your location, then simply enjoy the view!

With a fleet of over 40 balloons throughout our member companies, you will find that we have daily scheduled dawn and dusk flights seven days a week! Our main flying season is between March and October, however some of our member companies will even fly later into the year! We recommend you call for further information. Did you know that Balloons Over Britain fly over one-third of all balloon ride passengers in the UK‼

With more than 70 launch sites across the UK, the chances are you’ll find we fly from the spot you desire! We have been established since 1991 and are now the UK’s largest and longest established balloon flight operator providing nationwide flights – our network of companies is appropriately known as Balloons Over Britain. So whether you’re after a flight from Scotland or even a tour around the South West and Wales, you can choose to book direct with a local operator or enjoy the added flexibility of a Balloons Over Britain Nationwide voucher.

For more information visit us at www.balloonsoverbritain.co.uk or call us on 0845 071 6388.

Are you shopping around for the perfect ballooning experience? You’ll be looking at cost, duration of flight, choice of locations, available dates, safety records and pilot experience. Some ballooning companies do not offer up all the information you need to make an informed decision, however here at Wickers World we’re proud to tell you everything there is to know about us. Take a look at our Buyers Guide for help and advice about choosing your hot air balloon ride provider.

1. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, check how often the company flies its balloons in your chosen location! – Many companies advertise many different launch sites; however fail to mention that they rarely, if ever, fly from those sites. In many cases they don’t have anywhere near as many balloons as they have venues to fly from, and the result is that customers get a limited service. Worse still, some companies sell extensive quantities of vouchers yet don’t fly anything like the number of passengers that they book! Sadly, some never get to fly at all.

A tell tale sign would be if you noticed that these companies do not allow you to see their flight schedule, or if they only allow you to see it AFTER you’ve already bought your voucher! With Wickers World you can see what we have booked for the next month or two by clicking on the ‘book date’ button. In fact, Wickers World makes more flights, and carries more passengers, than any other operator in this region. To illustrate, in the last 12 months, our balloons have made hundreds of flights from our venues across Staffordshire, Cheshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire – just like the year before, and the year before that, and so on.

1. Ask how many balloons the company operates at the same time – If say a company has eighty launch sites to cover, but only a dozen balloons, you may find that it’s difficult to get the flight you want, when you want it! You must make sure that you ask these questions, otherwise the chance are nobody will tell you! On the other hand, here at Wickers World we have flights scheduled every day (except Christmas!) from our areas of Derbyshire, Cheshire/Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire/Herefordshire and Warwickshire/Gloucestershire. Plus last year we were out flying in December and January when many other operators don’t even bother to fly at all! Thanks to our dedication, we fly approximately 6000 passengers every year!
2. Impersonal call centre, or a local family business? – As we’re a family business we’re able to offer that extra personal communication. When calling our offices, you’re as likely to speak to one of the pilots as you are to one of our reservations team! So when you call in looking for information, or local advice, our team are on hand to help and highly experienced and expert at everything we do! We have been doing it for over 21 years after all!
3. You want value for money, don’t you? – If you check our competitors advertised flight durations, you’ll find that most of them are offering flights of about (or ‘approximately’) one hour. Does that mean 40 minutes? 50 minutes? The not knowing leaves us feeling concerned about what we’re actually getting for our money! At Wickers World, our flights are GUARANTEED to be AT LEAST one hour in duration, and are regularly closer to an hour and a half! So if you think about it, how much has that free gift or glass of cheap ‘bubbly’ actually cost you, if you only get 40 minutes in the air?
4. Price Promise – If you find an equivalent flight service for less, from a company based within 50 miles of us, we’ll beat the price by £5! It’s that simple! Just call us on (01889) 88 22 22.

We all have friends who are dear to our hearts; however there are always a few who are like family to us, who we just couldn’t be without. Many of us go on holiday with those friends (if we can get away from the kids), and those of us who cannot, make do with snatched moments such as coffee mornings, weekends away with the kids or sharing a bottle (or two) over a natter or a movie. But have you ever wanted to do something a little more special, something which each of you would remember and treasure forever? Often sharing a unique moment can bond friendships and relationships even stronger, and when you’re concerned about the possibility of strain on the friendship, such as a move, new career, a child even; marking your friendship with a momentous event can give you something indestructible.

Why not consider the idea of sharing a hot air balloon experience with your closest friends? Are you about to move away, or your friend and your scared the friendship will dwindle away? Maybe your friend is about to be married and you’d like remind them of the friendship you all share? Whatever the scenario is, at Balloon Over Britain we offer you exclusive balloon rides for two and exclusive rides for 4! Our Sunrise Exclusive for 4 package includes:

• Exclusive flight for four persons
• Excellent for exclusive parties, friend days out, celebrations and even for proposals, weddings, anniversaries, special occasions and promotion!
• Includes full colour gift voucher valid for 12 calendar months, passenger insurance, Champagne toast and presentation of flight certificate & return transport to the take off site.
• Weekday mornings (excluding Bank Holidays)
• Maximum passenger weight 12 stone/75kg average (each)
• Widest selection of launch sites across the UK.
• £899.00! (was £999 – You save £100!)

Our locations cover Bath, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Sussex, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire and Monmouthsire.

At Countryside Balloons we have various different launch sites in Essex as we must avoid controlled airspace such as that around Stansted airport. Therefore we have sites in the Chelmsford, Billericay and Brentwood area, Braintree, Colchester and Kelvedon. Thanks to the East coast, we have other natural obstacles too and so we have a variety of launch sites to choose from around the Essex countryside that best suit the flying conditions and wind direction on the day of the flight. Worry not however, we can assure you that these sites are easy to find and have ample free parking. We’ve found that by having a large selection of take off sites throughout Essex we are better able to provide an enjoyable, scenic and safe balloon flight that lasts for a pleasing duration!

We have many balloon flight dates available throughout March with the next available date as early as Saturday March 17^th! However, and more importantly, we have AVAILABLE SPACES for flight this Mothering Sunday March 18^th! It’s not too late to book your mums surprise flight gift; get in touch with us online where you can make bookings and find out all you need to know including dates, specific launch sites and directions, FAQ’s and more. You can of course call us to make your booking on 01621 786777 where are team will be happy to assist.

Did you know that you can even book a flight for Easter! Although you may not be able to participate in any Easter egg hunts from 3,000 feet in the air, it would be a wonderful way to mark the occasion, and certainly an Easter to remember! This Easter Sunday falls on the 8^th April and we have flights spaces available for 17:45pm! For a full list of spaces, take a look at our flight dates online.

Please remember to come dressed for the occasion; and no I don’t mean in Easter bunny suits. You will be thousands of miles in the air, so ladies (and gents?), no skirts please! We highly recommend that you wear sensible trainers or boots, no heels, as you will be walking through dewy grass. We’d also like to recommend that you try to wear natural fibres and also, due to the radiant heat of the burners, we advise you wear cotton caps. Dress for the time of year, you won’t be any colder in the air than you are on the ground, the balloon moves with the wind and so you won’t experience and cold gusts!

Mothers Day Ballooning gifts at Wickers World, now there’s a way to make her feel special! There are plenty of options to choose form with us so that you can tailor the ticket to give you exactly the date, time and location of your choice! Our options include:

• Early Bird Voucher – For those who like to wake with the birds, enjoy the dawn chorus and watch the sun come up. How about ballooning at this tranquil time of day?! Our Early Bird voucher is our budget voucher which must only be used on DAWN flights Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). At just £99 per person, it’s a snip!
• Weekday AM/PM – Some of you may prefer a little more flexibility that the early bird and would like the choice of morning or evening. This of course gives them a little more chance of being able to fly on the day of their choice as you are twice as likely to have the ideal weather conditions. These vouchers give you the choice of Monday to Friday, dawn until dusk flights and are just £125 per person.
• Premium Voucher – The premium voucher is our most popular one with 95% of passengers selecting this option. Allowing the bearer a wider choice of dates, this voucher enables you to pre-book the date of your choice; so long as the weathers ok, you’re away! You can use this voucher any time, weekends, weekdays and even Bank Holidays, morning, noon or night. Just £132 per person.
• Exclusive For 2 – Ahh, the romantics choice, the voucher will give you the opportunity to fly with your loved one, your mum or your best friend, just the two of you (and the pilot of course!), just perfect for special occasions! Weekends, weekdays and even Bank Holidays are available to your here, morning noon or night. Whats more, if you have land of your own, we may be able to launch from your home at no additional cost! This is subject of course to location and airspace restrictions. Just imagine the photos! A real treat at £595 for two people!

If you’re set on making this your Mother’s Day treat this year, we can even help you create that extra ‘WOW’ factor. For just £12, we can attach the voucher by ribbon to an 18” (45cm) metallic foil balloon which will be snugly packed away in a candy striped box. We will dispatch by either first class post or Royal Mail Special Delivery (as selected by you at the checkout). Then, when your mum opens the box, out will float the colourful helium-filled balloon and dangling below will be those dream tickets! Just imagine her face! It’s simple, you can quickly and easily book online, or you can call us on 01889 88 22 22, where we will be happy to take your bookings and answer any questions you may have.

Do we have the perfect Mother’s Day gift idea for you!? Have you thought about how you’re going to make your mum feel special this Mother’s day? Have you done enough to express your gratitude to her for the love she’s shown you all these years and help she’s given you? Does your mum know how much she means to you? We know the perfect way you can express all of this to her this Mother’s Day Sunday 18^th March 2012.

Right now if you purchase one or more ANYDAY flight vouchers on-line before 16th March 2012, you will receive a lovely Mother’s Day gift including a Balloon-in-a-box, a box of chocolates and a bottle of sparkling wine! What’s more, we’ll even hand deliver it in time for mothering Sunday! Please not however that delivery will be within a ten mile radius of our launch sites. All you have to do is decide whether you’ll take the balloon flight yourself, or whether you’ll give that to your mum too!

If this is enough, the Ballooning Business are also offering you the chance to WIN an upgrade, ooooooh! So every new purchase of two or more vouchers for a scheduled Balloon Flight with The Ballooning Business during 2012 will be automatically be entered into our Quarterly Draw to win an upgrade to one of our fantastic ‘Exclusive For Two’ VIP balloon flights! This isn’t any old flight; this is a balloon ride literally just for the two of you (and the pilot of course) with champagne to add the icing to the cake! All you have to do is purchase two or more flights from us and you will automatically be entered into our quarterly draw to be upgraded to one of our “Exclusive” flights! It couldn’t be simpler to book, you can either order online or you call give us a call on 01604 768 617.

The Ballooning Business specialise in hot air balloon flights across Northampton, Milton Keynes, Leicester, Bedford, Huntingdon and Banbury enjoying some of the most interesting and beautiful landscapes Britain has to offer.

When you were a child, do you remember travelling along those country lanes, on the way to visit family, or on an outing of some kind? Do you remember gazing out of the window of the family car, looking up wondrously at hot air balloons from time to time? It never felt like an achievable thing as a child, I suppose it was as if it wasn’t real at all. Personally I never thought I would travel in a hot air balloon one day! It really was just a dream, however fun to gaze at none the less! But here I am 28 and finally realising that this really doesn’t have to be a dream at all. In fact the price of ballooning isn’t as much as you might think! So I have decided that I am going to book a flight for my daughter and I, for her eleventh birthday this August and we’re both ecstatic about it! It really couldn’t be simpler and the cost is as much as a weekend camping trip, pretty much!

If you go to Balloons Over Britain we have a range of balloon flight operators who launch flights from various locations across the UK. All you need to do is decide on the location and it will take you directly to the covering flight operator. All of our members are certified and regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority and all the pilots hold full Commercial Pilot Licences, plus all operators carry combined single limit insurance to current European standards.

Typically flights start at as little as £85 per person and for this you will have the opportunity to help set up the balloon ready for flight, learning about how it works and how the pilot navigates and a beautiful hours flight thousands of feet up in the air over the destination of your choice. When the balloon lands you can toast the day with a glass of bubbly with the pilot and other passengers (if there are any) and you will be presented with a flight certificate to commemorate your day. Although we advise you to bring your camera’s to create your own album of memories, you will be given the opportunity to purchase in flight photo’s if you choose.

For more information, bookings, date availability and advise, please call us on 0845 071 6388 or visit us online at www.balloonsoverbritain.co.uk.