“What can we expect when we take a flight with Adventure Balloon’s?” many of our customers ask when they call our office; and it’s not hard to find the answer with us! Our website has all the information you could need from our company history, details on our balloons, customer comments, flight videos and photographs, an explanation as to what weather conditions we need, the history of balloons and how a hot air balloon works, an FAQ and even a News facility. In fact not only will our website allow you to find all the information you need and want to know about us and ballooning, but it will also allow you to check date availability against the location you have chosen, and then book the flight‼ That’s not to say however that you cannot phone us for information and bookings, as of course we’re always happy to take your calls – 01252 844222.

So what can you expect from you flight? Let me tell you…

Well, after joining in fully with the real sense of ballooning by helping to inflate the balloon, you will of course embark upon a truly magical adventure! In fact, there really is no other experience quite like it! You’ll find there’s no sensation of movement, no sensation of rising at all, you’ll just look down and see the world dropping away, it’s quite surreal! You’ll look up and see the inside of the balloons envelope, the burners and feel the heat on your face, then look across in any direction and enjoy panoramic 360 degree views of the world around you! The fields will appear like a patchwork quilt and buildings and famous monuments will look like toys on the ground below. You’ll be flying with the birds, no movement of air, as you’ll be moving with the wind.

During your hours flight you could see heights of up to 3’000 feet! The exact height will depend on the wind however as the balloon rises and falls to find the appropriate wind path. During morning flights you’ll be lucky enough to see the world untouched by human hands, wildlife enjoying the world all to themselves. With the use of rotation vents, the pilot can rotate the balloon to provide you with a complete (and quite literal) birds-eye view, which in turns enables you to take the best possible photographs! Having said this however, the pilot will take an in flight photograph of you in the balloon which you can purchase after the flight.

After your flight and when you’re likely to be quiet speechless (and even feeling a little euphoric some have described), you can enjoy the experience to its max by seeing it through to its real end and helping your pilot to pack the balloon away. The pilot will then present you with a flight certificate which of course is followed by the mandatory (and celebratory!) glass of champagne (or orange juice if you prefer) to toast your very own magical mystery balloon tour.

It really is all that you’ve dreamed of and more and at the cost of just £89 per person, it’s a treat you might just be able to justify! Enjoy and Bon Voyage!

With so many Balloon Flights companies to choose from, how are you supposed to choose?! Well first of all you need to decide on the location that would please you the most; many people like to fly over areas familiar to them, I guess to get a birds-eye perspective over the land – see it from another angle…ballooning will certainly give you that! If you’re interested in any of the following locations, you may just be in luck: Oxford, Reading, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford, Tring, London, Basingstoke, Hartley Wintney, Guildford, Farnham, Godalming, West Meon, Alton, Winchester, Kent, Sussex and Essex. Adventure Balloons cover all these areas and offer you an hour’s idyllic flight including a champagne toast and even the experience of setting up and dismantling the balloon!

If you choose to fly over Oxfordshire, one of our most popular locations (aside from London!), you will find that you’re not disappointed! Did you know that back in 1995, we were in fact the first hot air balloon flights company to work with Oxford City Council to enable the public to take balloon flights from the City Parks? Thanks to the co-operation of everyone involved, we can offer you flights with views over the dreaming spires and the countryside around Oxford and the surrounding villages! Look out for the various colleges, the Radcliffe Camera, Carfax Tower and the many Musuems built in the distinctive and historical stone. You may even catch a glimpse of Didcot Power Station, Farmoor Reservoir and Port Meadow, landmarks you certainly can’t miss!

You’re next step is to simply pick your date and the number of people who will be flying. Our website’s date checker will allow you to immediately see if you can have a flight at the location of your choice on the date that you select. You can even go ahead and book your tickets online once you’ve confirmed availability! Alternatively, you can of course call us for more information and bookings on 01252 844222. We look forward to welcoming you aboard Adventure Balloons!

It’s just 2 weeks until Valentine’s Day and your time is quickly running out, so let’s make things nice an easy for you. There is still time to book your loved one a paradise hot air balloon ride for February 14^th, but you’ll need to organise this fast. Adventure Balloons take great pleasure in offering romantic balloon rides. We are well aware that it is an experience that is likely to stay with you forever and will certainly make a real impact. We know you want to impress, otherwise you wouldn’t be making a statement with a balloon ride present; that’s why we pull out all the stops to tailor each individual ride to each of our customer’s specific desires. Let us know what you expect from your day with us, whether you’d like to fly in a group or if you’d like it to be a more intimate affair.

We can offer your flights in locations Oxford, Reading, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford, Tring, London, Basingstoke, Hartley Wintney, Guildford, Farnham, Godalming, West Meon, Micheldever, Alton, Winchester, Kent, Sussex and Essex. There’s no waiting on the postman with us, you can simply book online and we will email you your vouchers to be with you almost instantly! However if you’d prefer us to post them we will.

If you determined to fly on a specific day, call our offices on 01252 844222 to check the date availability and book, or alternatively view our ‘Dates’ page where you can see this information online. Do bear in mind however that due to ballooning being a weather dependant ‘sport’, if the conditions aren’t right on the day, we will have to re-schedule. We advise that you call on the day of your flight to check that the flight will be going ahead.

Next you simply need to choose from our various different voucher options which include the following:

Weekday Morning Champagne Balloon Flight – Just £89 per person! – Valid for flights from Berkshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Oxford, Surrey and Yorkshire. The voucher entitles you to a weekday morning flight during April – October and includes full colour gift voucher valid for 12 calendar months, flight in a hot air balloon, passenger insurance, traditional Champagne toast and presentation of flight certificate with return to the take off site by licensed minibus.

Weekday Champagne Balloon Flight – Just £109 per person! – Valid for flights from Berkshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Oxford, Surrey and York. The voucher entitles you to a weekday flight during April – October at any of our time slots and includes full colour gift voucher valid for 12 calendar months, flight in a hot air balloon, passenger insurance, traditional Champagne toast and presentation of flight certificate with return to the take off site by licensed minibus.

Standard Champagne Balloon Flight – Just £129 per person! – Valid for flights from Berkshire, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Oxford, Surrey, Sussex and York. The voucher entitles you to a weekday or weekend flight during April – October at any of our time slots and includes full colour gift voucher valid for 12 calendar months, flight in a hot air balloon, passenger insurance, traditional Champagne toast and presentation of flight certificate with return to the take off site by licensed minibus.

Nationwide Champagne Balloon Flight – Just £139 per person! – Valid for flights from the widest selection of launch sites across the UK (excludes London). Includes full colour gift voucher valid for 12 calendar months, flight in a hot air balloon, passenger insurance, traditional Champagne toast and presentation of flight certificate with return transport to the take off site.

Organise your ‘pick-me-up’ treat now and you can start the New Year with the knowledge that you have something very wonderful to look forward to. You can book as far ahead in the next 12 months as you like, pick a date which means something to you, or simply celebrate a birthday, Valentine’s day, an anniversary in style. Here at Adventure Balloons we pride ourselves on providing the most unbeatable service tailoring each flight to the individual, creating a moment that will stay with you a lifetime.

You can enjoy an hour’s flight in any of the following locations; Oxford, Reading, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford, Tring, London, Basingstoke, Hartley Wintney, Guildford, Farnham, Godalming, West Meon, Micheldever, Alton, Winchester, Kent, Sussex and Essex. But that’s not where it ends; so that you can make a ‘day of it’ we encourage all passengers to help set up the balloon and take it down again so that they get a real feel for what’s involved in ballooning and how it all works. You will enjoy a champagne toast and finally a flight certificate to commemorate the day and give you a token to remember it by, as if the memory isn’t enough!

We also give you the opportunity to purchase your in flight photo which you can hang on your wall with pride or tuck away in the photo album ready to show your friends and loved ones, along with giving them the exciting story of your day with us. Adventure Balloons were in fact one of the first balloon companies to provide in flight photography for passengers on balloon flights and in 2007 we purchased the world’s top selling digital camera, the Canon EOS400D. We use this camera on all of our balloons to give our customers the highest quality of photography.

For those of you who are more technically minded we are using an f1.8 20mm prime lens to provide better quality images than the standard Canon 18-55mm lens. This way we can guarantee the most professional photograph we can be proud to hand over to our passengers.

If you would like to know more, or would like to make a booking you can do so on our website, or alternatively, you can call us on 01252 844222!

Being the true leaders that we are, in 1993 Adventure Balloons updated their hot air balloon baskets by incorporating new seats for additional comfort and safety. However it was only from 2007 that the Civil Aviation Authority recognised this major contribution to balloon flights safety and so went on to recommended that other balloon rides operators in the country should follow suit in order to avoid foot, ankle and general lower limb injuries to passengers upon landing which can sometimes come down with a bit of a ‘bump’. Trust Adventure Balloons to start a trend, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Also incorporated into this newly designed basket as required by the CAA, is measures to support the head in case of a bumpy landing. We have also added large stainless steel footwells to avoid passengers slipping on entry and exit from the basket and then no other than the “Bladerunner” landing system which was of course developed by our very own Kim Hull.

“We are proud of our passenger safety record since fitting seats to our balloons in 1993 and pleased that the CAA has finally realised the great benefit of fitting them and look forward to other balloon operators using them” says Chief Pilot Kim Hull.

2007’s addition to our superb fleet of exceptional balloons included the featured 16 passenger balloon from no other but the Lindstrand Factory where we can be absolutely sure of the highest quality and standards. You will see the above discussed additions featured in the mentioned balloon pictured above. We take pride in the complete enjoyment and comfort our passengers receive when flying with us, this is clear to see from the picture!

For bookings and more information visit the site, or simply call us 01252 844222.

Lindstrand Balloons has a proven and renowned track record of project management, and also boasts the highest available approval rating from the British CAA and the American FAA, and EASA, for the manufacture of lighter-than-air craft! And with the advent of pan-European legislation for balloon maintenance this year, who better to do the checks and walk us through any needed changes than the Managing Director of Lindstrand Balloons himself!?

Due to their high levels of excellence, Lindstrand Balloons make all of our balloons that way ensuring the absolute highest quality aircraft. Then each year their trained inspectors thoroughly check over our fleet of hot air balloons making sure they are up to the British CAA, the American FAA, and the EASA standards. Adventure Balloons have been working as a technical partner with Lindstrand Balloons since they started in 1993, and were in fact one of their first customers.

When Simon Forse the Managing director came to inspect our balloons back in 2009, we were delighted to be told that the burner we’d purchased back in 1993 was in excellent health! Simon was curious to know how many flights it had done since it left the factory and so was obviously more than satisfied when we told him it had flown for 15 seasons with hardly any major replacements! With this he asked if he could put an advert in the UK’s balloon magazine about the burner and of course we were more than happy for him to go ahead! Any publicity’s good publicity right!

So bear in mind that while other balloon operator’s may boast modern equipment, our partnership with Lindstrand Balloons ensures even more than that. Our teams combination of the most modern and the most reliable equipments makes for a ballooning experience you can trust.

For more information about Adventure Balloons or Lindstrand Balloons, please call us on 01252 844222, or simply visit the website where you will find a wealth of information to answer a full range of customer enquiries. For bookings call us on the same number, or simply book online for fast and easy payments and date availability checks.

If anyone was going to cross the English Channel in a Hot Air Balloon it had to be Adventure Balloons and my how patient we were! Being the only UK balloon flights company to possess a ‘Happy Birthday’ balloon, of course we had to choose this for the trip!

We exceedingly patiently waited on standby from the beginning of October 2010 for the first Channel Crossing by hot air balloon since 2005! But low-and-behold, October and early November simply didn’t provide the North Westerly winds required to blow us to France by the shortest route (from Dover to somewhere close to Calais). In a normal passenger flight scenario, we leave room for enough gas to get us through an approximate hour flight. Making the crossing did not entail the addition of any passengers and so we obviously had more room for gas, however a crossing with a speed or direction in excess of 2 hours would be tricky and could even result in a rather unfortunate wet dip if the fuel ran out. Obviously not wanting to take this risk, we had to wait it out until the ideal weather conditions arose.

As you can imagine, the organisation and preparation required for an event such as this is quite staggering! It was all hands on deck! Another Balloons Over Britain member company Airborne Balloons (http://www.airborneballoons.co.uk/cross_channel.php) organised the event, leaving the matter of getting the balloon ‘ship shape’ in our hands. This involved the addition of further fuel tanks without compromising on space, radios, cameras, sandwiches and of course the essential ingredient, chocolate. We also had to organise immersion suits and a self inflating 4 person life raft (just in case) which was hired from http://www.aerosafe.co.uk/index.html. To save space the life raft was attached to the outside of the basket as was one of the fuel tanks!

Our hopes were raised on Monday April 4^th when weather conditions appeared spot on; however it wasn’t until a few days later that the event went ahead. At five o’clock in the morning we arrived in the dark at Lydden Hill Motor Racing circuit for the mass ascent and an attempt on the world record for the greatest number of balloons flying the channel! Palletways sponsored the event and were very hopeful. At 6am we had our safety briefing which was shortly followed by the very much anticipated balloon take off at 7:15am. Our balloon, carrying probably the youngest person to ever fly over the channel by balloon, then flew over Dover Castle, overtook the ferry as we sped along at speeds of up to 30knots at 1,000 feet (nearly twice the speed we could safely fly passengers) and having flown over Calais Harbour we landed at Calais Airport at 8.45am, covering about 25 miles in a hour and a half!

What an achievement and what a memorable morning it was!

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.

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.

Hot air ballooning is the most unique and romantic way to take to the skies; unlike any other form of flying, you have a 360 degree view of the world around you giving a real sense of freedom and an idea of what it must feel like to be a bird in flight. Until you’ve experienced it yourself, you can only imagine what it would be like to feel completely un-inhibited, to see the world as you know it shrink to the size of a model toy land; places that where once familiar to you will appear unreal, you will have a whole new perspective of distance and locations.

At Adventure Balloons you can choose your preferred location flying from Oxford, Reading, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford, Tring, London, Basingstoke, Hartley Wintney, Guildford, Farnham, Godalming, West Meon, Micheldever, Alton, Winchester, Kent, Sussex and Essex. All you need to do is book online or call on 01252 844222 and you’ll have your dream ambition booked in 5 minutes! We recommend that you call for a final weather check the evening before your morning flight so that you can be sure that the conditions are right for flying. On the morning or evening of your flight you will even be invited to help with the preparations setting up the balloon ready for flight! You can expect your flight to last about an hour, however with the preparations, travel and champagne toast, the whole experience is more likely to last for about three and a half hours.

Our vouchers are valid for 12 months; however our flights run from April to October. Due to safety regulations, passengers must not exceed 18 stone and passengers must be able bodied enough to climb into the basket which is approximately 1.1 meters tall. Our minimum age is 8, and anyone under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult. We do not have an upper age limit; we only ask that you are of good enough health to fly. If you have any doubts at all, please confirm with your doctor who can advise if hot air ballooning appropriate for you. Those who are pregnant or under the influence of drugs or alcohol will not be able to fly and we recommend flat shoes or walking boots along with clothing suitable for the time of year as you will need to walk through fields to get to the balloon.