If you’re looking to explore southern Somerset, then a hot air balloon ride from Taunton - ‘town on the River Tone' -is a fantastic way to do it. In fact, anything else just wouldn’t be cricket.

The town sits in the spectacular Vale of Taunton Deane between the Quantock and Blackdown Hills. It’s skyline is dominated by several impressive churches including St James, which towers over Somerset County Cricket Club’s ground. Ballooning over Taunton you may see beautiful Vivary Park, where the annual Taunton Flower Shower takes place, or Taunton Castle, which dates back as far as the Anglo Saxons in 710.

The Bridgewater and Taunton Canal is a fantastic sight to see on Taunton balloon flights as colourful barges wind their way along. More unusually, military pill-boxes can be seen on the canal’s banks as it was planned to be a Stop Line to halt an invading enemy during WWII.

Whichever way the wind takes you, you’ll find some of the most quintessentially English countryside passing below the basket of your hot air balloon. Somerset offers other possible highlights such as Wellington to the west and the 175ft column built to honour the Iron Duke himself. To the east, the historic market town of Yeovil, Yeovil Country Park, and the unusual Barwick park follies beckon.

Satellites: Tiverton, Totnes, Exeter