It does not matter where you live we have a local Hot Air Balloon Ride operator close to you. By using the National Voucher scheme that we at Balloons over Britain operate you can choose to fly in the Hot Air Balloon anywhere in the UK. Perhaps you and a friend or partner deciding to take a holiday this year in the UK and would like to combine this with an activity such as a Hot Air Balloon Ride.

An example of this would be if you live or decide to take a holiday in the Hampshire area and ride with our local operator from a Winchester launch site. - In addition to a glimpse of impressive Winchester Cathedral, a balloon flight over Hampshire offers the possibility of views of beautiful countryside and country houses in beautiful parkland settings. From a bygone age, some of these stately homes still remain in private hands while others have been converted into luxury hotels and country clubs. You may also see the Basingstoke Canal winding its way through the countryside, flanked by beautiful villages.

It takes two or three people to help the pilot of the Hot Air Balloon rig the equipment, hold open the envelope while it fills with cold air, and then apply weight to the outside of the basket as needed before launch. Once the Balloon Ride is under way, the ground, or launch crew then follow the Hot Air Balloon on the ground to the place the pilot has chosen to land. After the landing they help the pilot pack everything up and bring it home again, without these wonderful volunteers Hot Air Balloon Rides just would not happen.

It is great fun but it can be hard but often rewarding work as many professional Balloon Ride operators in the UK pay the crew, others offer free rides or even lessons. Crewing is a great way to learn about the sport following which maybe you could start formal training and become a pilot yourself.

At Balloons over Britain we invite you to experience the thrill of a lifetime and join the thousands of others that have flown with one of our 70 local operators. We are passionate about Hot Air Ballooning and we feel sure that you too will feel the same once you have taken your first Hot Air Balloon Ride.

From the moment of launch to the time when you make your gentle descent, you will experience the sheer joy of watching the patchwork quilt of the fields below drift by. Riding in a Hot Air Balloon is undoubtedly the oldest form of aviation and we consider it to be the most romantic, which is one of the reasons why Wedding Packages feature so highly amongst the many gift vouchers that we are asked for. For a Wedding gift, a corporate event, a work force incentive package or just a gift for yourself, Balloons over Britain will be happy to meet your needs, just purchase a gift voucher and fly from your own locality.

It is really quite simple and is based on the principle that hot air rises, you will have experienced the warmer air at the kitchen ceiling when cooking if you have to change a light bulb. The balloon or envelope is filled with hot air causing it to lift off. This has to be large, for example to lift 1000 pounds of weight requires 65,000 cubic feet of air and that is big! We need to keep the Hot Air Balloon up so we have to keep replacing this with hot air as it cools; this is done with the burner which we can relate to being the engine.

Modern hot air balloons use propane in the burner to heat the air, this propane is stored in cylinders which are kept in the balloon basket, along with the passengers and the pilot. There are many different types of burner in use today, but the principle is the same for all of them, they heat the air to keep the Hot Air Balloon of the ground. So relax, when you buy your voucher from us to take your Hot Air Balloon Ride through one of the seventy local operators, just concentrate on the view and enjoy your thrill of a life time.

The season for Hot Air Balloon events is well under way and many festivals and meets are taking place throughout the country. These Balloon events can involve as many as 100 Hot Air Balloons, or just a small gathering of a dozen or so. Weather permitting mass ascents in both the morning and evening take place and often public events feature a “nightglow” spectacular event.

Some events taking place are at; Kirby Lonsdale Rugby Club, Bowood House in Wiltshire, Ludley in Shropshire, The Sudeley Cup at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, Stewarts Park Middlesbrough, Burnley Balloon Meet in Towneley Park, a Grand Prix meet at Husbands Bosworth Leicestershire, Coniston in the Lake District, and Lakeside Lodge Pidley Cambridgeshire.

Remember to take a camera, wear layers of clothes it is often quite cool in the early mornings, wear flat and comfy shoes or boots, and be there early as the Hot Air Balloons are launched at around 7AM, above all have good time, we are sure that you will soon contact Balloons over Britain for your voucher to take your ride in a Hot Air Balloon.

If you have been fortunate to take a Hot Air Balloon ride in the UK over the past few days, you will have achieved near perfect weather for this experience of a lifetime. With warm sunshine, accompanied by cooling and gentle breezes, wafting you slowly over the patchwork quilt of this wonderful countryside of ours, what could be better? By doing it again and few would disagree with that statement.

When you buy a voucher through Balloons over Britain to take your Hot Air Balloon ride through one the many operators UK wide, encompassed within the organisation, we cannot, of course, guarantee that you will have a bright sunny day. But what we can assure you is that you will be safely transported from launch site to champagne landing only in weather that is suitable for flying.  Visibility will be good and the wind will be gentle, your qualified pilot friendly and happy to explain the technicalities of his part of the flight and the crew equally willing for you to assist with the inflation and recovery operations, it is just waiting for you.

If you were one of the many millions of people who have been following the BBC1, Sir Alan Sugar Apprentice series, you could not help but notice that the winning team, in a recent showing, as their prize for winning the task took a Hot Air Balloon Ride, which was launched from Leeds Castle in Kent.

You don’t have to put yourself through the rigours of one of Sir Alan’s tasks, or suffer the interrogation of the “boardroom” to enjoy this thrill of a lifetime, illustrated by the successful “alpha” quintet in the basket as seen during the programme. By contacting Balloons over Britain, you can also enjoy this once in a lifetime experience through one of our 70 local operators, from a site near you.

A flight in a Hot Air Balloon makes a really exciting and surprising gift for one of many special occasions and for most will fulfil that personal ambition. Hot Air Ballooning UK wide is safe and we have one of the best safety records worldwide and are one of the safest forms of aviation available. However, we suggest that it would always be in your best interests to check the operator that you use is a fully and properly licensed operator of Hot Air Balloons when you purchase your Balloon Ride, or buy a gift certificate for someone.

Balloons over Britain have over 70 fully licensed operators flying from launch sites throughout the United Kingdom, all holders of an Air Operators Certificate, signed up to the high standards and code of conduct necessary to meet the high standards demanded. All our operators constantly strive to give you the customer the very best. Balloons over Britain will ensure that you will not be disappointed.

It is a natural assumption that if you want to become involved with Hot Air Ballooning UK wide you have to have a lot of spare income as this involves great expenditure. Well here at Balloons over Britain we can assure you that this is not the case, far from it. The simplest and very inexpensive way of getting involved is to crew for a pilot as the pilot cannot rig the balloon without at least three or more crew.

There are few requirements to becoming a member of a Hot Air Balloon crew, fit enough to be able to carry some heavy items, maybe across a field for example, not to the level of a trained athlete. Getting up early in the morning is another, in order to get to the launch site for Sunrise Balloon Flights Having a driving licence and possibly your own car could be useful, although not essential and being a committed team member is vital. Contact us at Balloons over Britain; perhaps take a ride first at a local operator near you.

If you do not fancy floating serenely at a few hundred feet and watching the patchwork quilt of fields passing below you, disturbed only by the occasional firing of the gas burner, why not consider a tethered Hot Air Balloon experience?

Many of our 70 operators local to you, have tethered operations as part of the comprehensive packages on offer. These operations consist of the balloon being inflated as normal and flown up to a height of less than 60 metres, restrained by ropes secured to the basket. These are to prevent any lateral movement; the Hot Air Balloon is flown up and down by the pilot under its own power just as it would in free flight. Often these tethered operations take place at night which allows for a spectacular show, or night glow, the whole envelope being lit by the burner. Contact us and we will be happy to tell you which local Hot Air Balloon operator offers this option.