So you’ve decided on Adventure Balloons as the operator to take you up on your first hot air balloon ride, but now you simply cannot decide which of the fabulous locations to opt for! Tricky one; all our locations are wonderful for their own reasons, we cover the fascinating Oxfordshire, York & Lincolnshire, fabulous Hertfordshire, you’ll see plenty in Berkshire, and plenty more in Essex Kent and Sussex, one of our favourites is North Hampshire and Surrey is simply beautiful. London is of course out of the question with this year’s London Olympics and Paralympics and also with the Queens Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. The Department of Transport have made it clear that for security reasons our flights will preclude for 2012. You can however book for 2013 is you’d like to see London from 3’000 foot in the air!

One of our favourite balloon flight paths is our South Hampshire location taking off from launch sites in Alton, Micheldever, Popham, West Meon and Winchester.

Depending on which site we take off from (which is determined by the wind direction and weather on the day of the flight), you may see the impressive Winchester Cathedral, the breathtaking rolling Hampshire countryside, the tranquil River Test and various small villages such as Laverstoke, Whitchurch, and the Candovers during the balloon ride. However, this too depends on which direction the wind is blowing. You may also see large estates such as Leckford on the River Test where Waitrose produce a lot of their food, the Mid Hants Steam Railway that runs from Alton to Alresford, and if you’re exceptionally lucky, you may even see a glider circling around Lasham airfield, or microlights flying from Popham airfield!

When flying from our South Hampshire launch sites we have to keep clear of Southampton Airport at Eastleigh, and also keep our passengers out of the Solent! So you can see why in order to provide you with a safe and enjoyable flight, the site chosen will depend entirely on the wind direction and speed on the day.

Why not visit the site where you can easily book now in any of our flight locations, you can even click here to see videos of our flights over Hampshire! However if you’re after a more personal touch, then call one of our team on 01252 844222!

Does the thought of seeing the earth and the land from another perspective entice you?

Are you eager to look down on the world like a bird with a complete and unhindered view of it all?

Does the thought of hot air ballooning excite you?

Then join the club; here at Adventure Balloons we have a real passion for hot air ballooning which is still very much alive and kicking after 27 years in the business! We are the largest company in the country offering UK balloon flights and now even operate specialist ‘Happy Birthday’ balloons! Our complete fleet has capacities which range from four to sixteen people so that we can create the perfect intimate and romantic affair, or a lively airborne party to celebrate a pivotal day!

We fly from various locations around London and the Home Counties and after many years experience it seems clear that our passengers seem to prefer to fly over a location which is familiar to them. It makes perfect sense when you think about it; say you grew up in the area, worked, or went to school there, you know the place well – on foot – however you want to see it from about and experience its true beauty! So why not take a look at our locations page to see if we cover the location of your choice? If not, why not give us a call and we can point you in the direction of one of the Balloons Over Britain hot air balloon flights member companies who fly in your location. All Balloons Over Britain members must past strict guidelines in order to carry the status and are fully certified with many years of experience and love for ballooning.

To book with us is simple, simple decide where you would like to fly and then whether you’d like to book quickly online or call on 01252 844222 to speak to a member of the team. When ordering online you can choose to have your order sent instantly by e-mail or by post and can even take a look at flight availability to get an idea of when you can take your flight! Flights start from as little as £89 per person and you have the choice of sunset or sunrise flight, weekday or weekend.

We fly people of all ages from as young as 7 to as old as 120! As long as children meet the right height requirements and you are fit and able to stand and climb over the basket, it would be our pleasure to give you this wonderful experience. Take a look at our FAQ for a complete guide to what to expect and what you need to know, along with a list of medical exemptions. However if you have any questions and you’d like to speak to a member of our team, please feel free to call our offices on the already mentioned telephone number.

Bon Voyage!

Are you thinking about booking a hot air balloon flight over our beloved capital city? Well I’m not surprised; with so much to offer in the way of architecture, historical buildings and cutting edge developments, London is sure to offer many surprises from 3’000 feet in the air! Well here at Adventure Balloons we’re proud to include London on our list of balloon flight locations.

However latest discussions with the Department of Transport have made it clear that security arrangements both at our launch sites and in London’s airspace required for the Queens Diamond Jubilee Celebrations and the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics will preclude our Central London Hot Air Balloon Rides for all of the 2012 season. Worry not however, you can purchase vouchers for London balloon flights in 2013 from November 2012! What better plan for an extra special Christmas gift! Forward planning is always a good idea for grand gestures such as this, and with plenty of notice you’ll certainly raise the funds in time!

Vouchers start from as little as £89 per person and if a 2013 London hot air balloon flight is what you’re looking for and you need to budget for it now, then why not call our offices to find out exactly how much it would cost on the date/time of your choice? Make sure you give us details of how many people will be flying, whether you’re looking for a sunrise booking or a sunset, and whether you’re after a weekday or weekend flight. With just a little put by each month, you could have Christmas 2012 completely sorted!

However if you just can’t contain your excitement and you’d like to book a flight for this year, then why not consider our other locations; Oxford, Reading, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford, Tring, London, Basingstoke, Hartley Wintney, Guildford, Farnham, Godalming, West Meon, Micheldever, Alton, Winchester, Kent, Sussex and Essex.

What’s more, you can even book one of our exclusive ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ balloons (available in 2-4 persons or 16 persons for larger party flights) which are available on most of our balloon flights in Berkshire, Hampshire, Lincolnshire, Oxford, Surrey and York in 2012.

For more information simply visit the site or call us on 01252 844222.

With so many balloon flights companies to choose from, what is it about Adventure Balloons that makes us so popular and why should we be your first choice? Let’s face it, if you’re booking a balloon flight that’s going to take you 3,000 foot in the air, you’ll want to check out the companies policies, track records, testimonials, reliability and more. We expect this and in fact recommend it, and are 100% confident you’ll be happy with what you find here at Adventure Balloons.  Before you browse through our site, we’ve listed in today’s article the benefits to using our company so that you can decide whether or not you’d like to visit the site or call our team.

• Fast Bookings – Not only can you call us to book your flight, but you can easily book online too where you will even be given the option to choose your voucher design. Vouchers ordered online for e-mail delivery will arrive instantly!
• Check Date Availability – Unlike many other balloon flights companies, you can check our flights schedule so that you can see how often we fly from each of our locations (Berkshire, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, London, Oxford, Surrey, Sussex and York)
• Low Prices - Book vouchers from as little as £89 – the best value balloon flight in the UK!
• Birthday Balloons – Enjoy special birthday flights in our one-of-a-kind Birthday hot air balloon which features our Adventure Balloons colours and a giant ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ message!
• Great Reputation – Many Adventure Balloons customers come from personal recommendation – check out our customer testimonials to see why!
• Flexible – Adventure Balloons is also able to cater for any special requirements you may have.
• Various Capacities – We have several balloons with capacities ranging from 4-16 passengers!

Adventure Balloons became so popular and renowned for their quality of service and eagerness to please that the only way left for them to continue growing was to create the group Balloons Over Britain. Balloons Over Britain has 10 member companies each offering flights in different locations across the UK. With over 70 different launch sites across Britain, and from Adventure Balloons humble beginnings, it has to be asked…why go anywhere else? So if Adventure Balloons do not cover the location you were after, take a look over at Balloons Over Britain where you will find a member company that does.

If you’re reading this then I’m guessing you’re toying with the idea of hot air ballooning. Many people purchase a hot air ballooning trip for themselves as a sort ‘life ambition gift’. Most of us dream of hot air ballooning one day and sadly a great deal of those will never actually fulfil the goal; it gets put off and put off until frankly, it’s just too late. Those of us who take the leap and join the world of ballooning then realise just why so many of us Brits dream of taking to the skies in this way. It is an experience like no other, exhilarating, breathtaking, relaxing, inspirational, euphoric, tranquil and emotional even. Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?

Ballooning is also a gift given to others. This could be as a birthday present, anniversary surprise, congratulations or reward gift, a romantic gesture, a Christmas present; for many their doesn’t have to be a reason! To receive those ‘golden’ tickets that will allow you the life time chance of taking to the skies in a hot air balloon, is in itself an exciting thing. Just picture the look on their face when they realise what’s in store for them!

At Adventure Balloons we cover various flight locations across Britain, for example Oxford, Reading, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford, Tring, London, Basingstoke, Hartley Wintney, Guildford, Farnham, Godalming, West Meon, Alton, Winchester, Kent, Sussex and Essex.

Our south Hampshire area is one of our most popular spots. Flying from Anstey Park in Alton, from West Meon, from Micheldever near the railway station and from the City of Winchester, there’s plenty of ‘flight paths’ to choose from. However do bear in mind, the exact course you end up taking is completely wind dependent! Our customers commonly see the impressive Winchester Cathedral and are in awe of its staggering beauty from above! Be seduced by the rolling Hampshire countryside, the River Test, the pretty little villages such as Laverstoke, Whitchurch, and the Candovers. You can often see the large estates of Leckford on the River Test where Waitrose produce a lot of their food, the Mid Hants Steam Railway that runs from Alton to Alresford, and many a time we’ve had the rather unusual experience of seeing a glider circling around Lasham airfield, or microlights flying from Popham airfield.

Book your chance to fly in a hot air balloon with Adventure Balloons and you will receieve a 12 month voucher which will entitle you to select your date from anytime (depending on which voucher you buy) over the 12 months following purchase! Book online or call us on 01252 844222.

Are you booking your next year’s summer surprise? Have you decided to knock the vacation on the head for the coming summer and to try something a little different this time? Many people have changed the way they do their summers these past couple of years and with the latest government cuts and taxations, it’s only going to keep changing. So not many of us can afford a yearly break, and instead opt for camping trips and UK weekenders in the caravan; that’s fine, we’re all in the same boat, so to speak, but wouldn’t you prefer to be in a balloon?

Here at Adventure Balloons you can enjoy a hot air balloon flight across locations such as Oxfordshire, York, Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, London, Essex, Kent, Sussex, South Hampshire, North Hampshire and Surrey!

Our popular North Hampshire location has launch sites in Down Grange and War Memorial Park in Basingstoke. However we also have our own site based in Hartley Wintney. You will find all these sites conveniently positioned for access to the M3 motorway.

During your alternative summer day outing you will see sites such as Tylney Hall Hotel, Wellington Country Park, Stratfield Saye (the Duke of Wellington’s Home) and Bramshill Police training college! Keep your eyes peeled for the small villages of Odiham, Hartley Wintney, Crondall, Overton, Dummer and Hook which will look like toy towns from your birds-eye view 3,000 feet up!

The icing on the cake however is the champagne toast, adding the final touch of elegance to your tranquil, magical balloon tour over your favourite location. Our passengers often comment on a feeling of royalty, and many of them get in touch to say that the whole day didn’t sink in until the following day. It really is no wonder that hot air ballooning is high on our lists of things to do, so why put it off, make it happen!

Get in touch with us by phone on 01252 844222, e-mail, or alternatively you can check date availability or make bookings online.

Hot air ballooning is all about the weather! Being a completely weather dependent activity, specific date bookings can never be guaranteed. So where many of our balloon ride passengers fly on their first attempt, you’ll also find that equally as many will first undergo a few attempts. You will need to have a certain degree of patience when it comes to taking your flight; the more bookings you make the quicker you will get your chance, but worry not, we can safely say that the experience is always worth the wait.

As the UK is positioned on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean it means that traditionally we have low pressure weather systems in the winter and more high pressure systems in the summer. Higher pressure weather normally brings blue skies, light winds and little rain, where as the lower pressure systems tend to bring storms, rain and strong winds. For this reason, hot air ballooning seasons run from April to October and it is thought that the best time to fly is between July and August.

Flights tend to take place at sunrise or sunset as this is when the wind can be a little lighter. For the flight to go ahead, winds must be less than 10 miles an hour during the hour after dawn or before dusk and so careful monitoring is always required! Don’t panic however; we always let our passengers know well in advance. We use forecasts and rely on this information to be able to make the decision to call the flight on, however sometimes this information can be incorrect and so on rare occasions we have to cancel at the launch site.

It is actually very simple to predict if the wind is going to be very light or too strong and often it can be seen some days ahead as high or low pressure weather systems approach. If suitable conditions can be seen ahead, we will text passengers of available spaces and sometimes even put on additional flights.

Visibility is the trickiest to predict and is certainly the main culprit in terms of error in weather forecasts. With various weather conditions such as mist, fog or low cloud being rather subtle and varying from mile to mile, our balloon pilot’s always ensure they access the most up to date information and even rely on local knowledge.

Ballooning in the rain is frankly not an option. When you consider that the top of the balloon reaches nearly 100 degrees Centigrade (the boiling point of water), it will come as no surprise that when the rain falls on the balloon, its cooling effect is sure to have a consequence! If the balloon cools it will descend rapidly and so the pilot has to put in extra heat from the burners to compensate for the heat loss. The whole ordeal is bad for the balloon fabric and makes the balloon much harder to control; what’s more, packing the balloon away while it’s wet is not the greatest idea! So it is basically a case of watching the weather radar closely to see where the showers are forming, where they are tracking and if they are beginning to die away.

As I’m sure you can now gather, there are plenty of weather conditions to be mindful of, so if you’re booking your balloon flight, remember, if it’s cancelled, it’s for your own safety! However your patients will always be rewarded when it comes to hot air ballooning – Adventure Balloons will certainly guarantee you one of the most magical experiences you could ever have.

Most people are unable to commit to the hot air ballooning experience until they’ve had their minds put at ease and until they have the answers to their questions. Taking a trip into the sky by a giant balloon would of course spark a natural curiosity; many people have so many questions and have no idea how to prepare for their adventure. So here are a few of the most frequently asked questions and their answers to give you a better understanding of what to expect.

What am I meant to wear on the day?

It is recommended that you dress for the outdoors, because let’s face it; you’re going to be up in the sky in a basket! Please refrain from wearing skirts, shorts or synthetic fibres such as nylon and also avoid wearing loose jewellery. You will be traipsing across fields, so do wear suitable footwear for the possible muddy ground! It is also advisable that you wear a hat to protect your head from the heat of the burners.

Am I too old to fly/Is my child to young to fly?

You will be happy to hear that there is no upper age limit to these flights. All we ask is that you are fit and able for what is involved. You will need to be able to climb in and out of the basket which stands at approximately 1.1 metres tall. All passengers below the age of 16 will need to be accompanied by an adult, and children younger than 8 or below the height of 1.4 metres will not be able to fly.

Please also note that passengers weighing over 18 stone or 114kg will not be able to fly for safety reasons.

Can we pick the time of the flight?

The simple answer to this question is no. Balloon flights take place either during the early morning or the evening. These times will normally depend on the sunrise or sunset and so the times can vary during the course of the year. Normally however, flights commence at approximately 6am or 6pm.

How much notice do I have to give to book?

Worry not. You can book your flight dates either on our date availability page or by calling our office on 01252 844222 and you will find dates available almost immediately and those practically a year off! You can purchase a gift voucher at any time with flights commencing during March or April and running through until the end of October (or sometimes longer depending on the area).

How do I book?

It couldn’t be simpler; you can either order a gift voucher on our bookings page, where you will be sent your voucher pack instantly by e-mail or by post, or you can telephone us on 01252 844222 to make a booking ‘in person’ so to speak.

Your pack will include a colour gift voucher, brochure and our 20 page map pack which includes launch site details, check in times and plenty more practical information about the flight so that you can focus on getting excited!

Hot air ballooning tends to be one of those adventures we all take a long hard think about before we take the leap to booking. Many of us like to ask around; word of mouth can be very reassuring, others like to read up on everything they can find on the various flights companies there are. There are those that break the mould entirely however and just book at the first given opportunity, completely overwhelmed at the pure excitement of the whole thing! Well here at Adventure Balloons we have created our very own Blog so that you can keep on top of all the latest news, FAQ’s, discounts and special offers, or read up on our more educational posts. Over your chosen course you can discover everything you need to know about us, ballooning and what to expect purely from our blog page, then at a time of your choice you can go ahead a make that booking, by phone or online!

On the website you will find various different useful areas such as ‘News’ which brings you all the latest as soon as we know it, ‘FAQ’ which gives you a complete list of popular questions and answers, ‘About’ which will provide you with everything you need to know about us, ‘Locations’ giving you a complete list of the areas we cover, where our launch sites are situated and what you’re likely to see on our different routes, ‘Bookings’ where you can make your bookings (pretty self explanatory really) and ‘Dates’ where you can find out if your chosen date is available, weather dependent of course! Lastly you will find our ‘Birthdays’ section where you can book that special flight in a Happy Birthday Balloon for your friend, family member or loved one.

So if your considering to take to the skies in the most exciting way imaginable, get in touch with us here at Adventure Balloons, not only are we the largest UK balloon flights company, but as a CAA certified balloon flights operator, we can guarantee you optimum safety and the friendliest service!

A hot air balloon flight is a magical experience that, according to research, is one of the top ten things people want to experience during their lifetime.  A balloon ride is a peaceful, tranquil experience that allows us to view places that we love from a whole new perspective but there are bound to be some questions you would like answers to before embarking on that thrill of a lifetime.  Here are some frequently asked questions, answered by Adventure Balloons, that will help put your mind at rest:

What should I wear?  Anyone who is taking a flight in a hot air balloon should wear sensible clothes that one might wear if they were taking a walk in the countryside.  It will be a bit breezy up in the air, so girls, avoid skirts!  Try to avoid wearing synthetic clothes such as nylon, due to the heat of the burner.  You may wish to wear a hat to protect your head from the heat but again, make sure it is not made from synthetic materials.  As you are most likely to be landing in a field and due to typical British weather it is probably going to be muddy, please wear flat, sensible shoes such as Wellies or walking boots.

Is there an age limit?  Children under eight years old are too young to fly but anyone over that age can participate in a balloon flight.  There are height and weight restrictions however.  Due to health and saftey reasons, anyone shorter than 4 feet 6 inches or heavier than 18 stone cannot fly in a hot air balloon.

What is good ballooning weather and what will happen if my flight is cancelled?  For a balloon flight to go ahead, light winds, good visibility and no rain is required.  Your map pack will give you details of when to ring the flight operator to confirm that your flight will go ahead as scheduled.  Should your flight be cancelled, it will simply be re-scheduled for the next available date.  Again, you will need to confirm your re-scheduled flight with your operator when required to do so.

How do I book my flight and how far in advance do I need to make my booking?  It is incredibly simple to book your very own hot air balloon flight.  Visit our bookings page to select your required flight voucher.  When purchasing you flight voucher, you can request your voucher pack to be emailed to you or sent to you in the post.  Alternatively, you can contact Adventure Balloons on 01252 844222.  You can check for flight availabilites on Adventure Balloons’ new Date Availabilites Page or by contacting them on 01252 844222. 

Can I purchase Gift Vouchers and how long is the validity period?  Yes, you can purchase Gift Vouchers.  These make an excellent present for any loved one.  You can purchase them on the Bookings page or by contacting Adventure Balloons on 01252 844222.  Gift Vouchers are valid for 12 calendar months.

I have a disbility.  Can I still fly?  Adventure Balloons strive to make hot air balloon flights available for anyone.  Many people with disabilites are more than welcome to experience a hot air balloon flight, however you must inform us of any diability so that we can ensure a duty of care towards our passengers.  Sadly, for safety reasons people who are confined to a wheelchair cannot fly.  If you have any questions  in regards to whether you can participate in a hot air balloon flight, please speak to your GP and contact us on the above number.

Hopefully, this has answered any questions you may have in regards to hot air balloon flights.  If you still have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01252 844222 or by using our contact form.