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By Alex, July 28, 2011 1:21 pm

A high-flying Kent hot air balloon pilot is celebrating another happy landing – but this time it’s the arrival of a cuddly four-legged new born with a famous name.

When Damon Bridger, from Gillingham, isn’t taking people on champagne balloon rides over Kent for Virgin Balloon Flight, he’s busy with his other unusual occupation; breeding and rearing alpacas. Damon, 50, and partner Clare West bought their first two alpacas two years ago with plans to breed more and sell them or to use their soft fleeces for wool products.

They set up Great Oak Farm Alpacas near Maidstone and now have six of the animals including the recent new addition, a black coloured baby or ‘cria’ which they’ve called Richard, after famous entrepreneur and adventurer Sir Richard Branson.

Damon said: “We’ve decided to call the new ones after famous airborne adventurers and, having been a pilot with Virgin Balloon Flights in Kent for 15 years, Sir Richard was obviously top of the list.

“The new cria was quick to explore his surroundings and seemed naturally inquisitive, so the name was perfect. Two more cria are due soon and we plan to name a girl after American pilot Amelia Earhart.”

Damon, who has flown balloons all over the world and now takes passengers up from Maidstone’s Mote Park, Wadhurst, Headcorn and Sutton Valence, said balancing both jobs was hard work, but meant every day was exciting.

“Nothing can beat the feeling of flying in a hot air balloon, but alpacas are amazing animals and seeing one being born is always a special experience,” Damon said.

A duck, a sheep and a cockerel were on board the first recorded hot air balloon flight in France in 1783, but despite the adventurous alpaca’s name, Damon has no plans to take Richard skywards.

“It’s a funny idea, but I’m not sure what the other passengers would think!” he added.

Visit the Virgin Balloon Flights website for more information or to book a balloon ride in Kent with Damon.

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By Kirsty, July 4, 2011 12:13 pm

An unusual request from Virgin Balloon Flights HQ here in Shropshire this afternoon … we are looking  for any passengers who flew on the 3^rd of July 2006 in one of our lovely hot air balloons from our Sywell Aerodrome launch site in Northampton.

Whatever for, I hear you say! Well, at the end of May this year we received a lovely letter from a gentleman (Mr Davies) who lives in Northampton, who had recently bought a ‘fairly old’ digital camera from a local charity shop.

The camera, to his surprise, still contained a memory card. After scanning the photographs Mr Davies was keen to find the owner to return their pictures. Now here is the link… the  photographs on the memory card were predominantly of a hot air balloon ride with Virgin Balloon Flights on the 3^rd of July in 2006.

Amongst the balloon ride images there are also pictures of family members, a dog and lots of cactus and tomato plants, the camera is a Pentax Optio 330RS.

Are these your photographs? If so, drop us a line at  marketing@virginballoonflights.co.uk or give us a call on 01952 212750

Let’s hope we find the owner!

You too can fly from Sywell Aerodrome from as little as £109pp, simply visit www.virginballoonflights.co.uk.

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By Eve, May 17, 2011 2:24 pm

Next week sees the celebration of National Balloon Week commencing May 22^nd 2011.

A balloon is simply a flexible bag inflated with a gas such as helium, hydrogen or oxygen and can be made from material such as rubber, latex or nylon. Even dried animal bladders have been used in the past to make balloons; lovely!

In 1824, whilst experimenting with different gases, Michael Faraday invented the most common type of balloon, the rubber balloon.

In 1782, whilst watching a bonfire the French Montgolfier brothers, realised that warm air was lighter than cool air and set about filling a bag with hot air to see if it would fly. The rest is history as they say.

In contrast, in the 1970s, metalized plastic film began to be used to create pretty decorative floating foil balloons filled with helium.

As well as for fun, balloons are used as flying machines for transport, pleasure trips, defence and meteorology.

It goes without saying that here at Virgin Balloon Flights we love balloons, not least because balloons tend to conjure images of colour, happiness and celebration.

Balloons can also symbolise something special; a birthday, a party, happiness, togetherness and in
the case of hot air ballooning – daring, romance and adventure! Just visit our gallery and you’ll get
the idea.

So to experience a magical balloon ride in one of our beautiful big red iconic balloons and feel part of ballooning history, take a look at our range of balloon flights that take off from almost every corner of England, Scotland and Wales.

You can also find out more about the ballooning experience by visiting us on Facebook and by following us @VirginBalloons on Twitter.

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By Kirsty, August 4, 2010 10:09 am

W E Johns’ adventure book series truly came to life
yesterday morning as a James  ‘Biggles’ Bigglesworth tribute jumped on board one of our balloons with pilot Martin Collinson in Yorkshire.

The hero character, a pilot and adventurer, had a lengthy fictional career spanning nearly 100 volumes from his debut ‘The Camels are Coming’ (1932) to his final adventure in ‘Biggles Air Ace: The Uncollected Stories’ (1999).

The Biggles fan who enjoyed a hot air balloon ride with Virgin Balloon Flights was Mr Andrew Hayden of Redcar north Yorkshire who is originally from Cleveland, and an obvious adventurer himself. Pilot Martin said:

“He carried off the part with great humour…”

On the same flight yesterday morning which launched from
York Racecourse, the 15 lucky  passengers got a splendid bird’s eye view of Elvington Air Museum which is the largest independent air museum in Britain and is also the location of The Allied Air Forces Memorial.

A truly educational hot air balloon ride in real aviation spirit! The passengers enjoyed a Champagne toast after landing, sipping to the history of flight before packing away the balloon and being taken back to their original launch site.

You too can take to the skies in an iconic red balloon in Yorkshire or from one of 100+ launch sites in England, Scotland and Wales. Start your airborne adventure with Virgin Balloon Flights!

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By Kirsty, August 2, 2010 4:12 pm

Yorkshire balloon pilot Martin Collinson who flies one of our iconic red hot air balloons over the county, yesterday celebrated ‘Yorkshire Day’ in style by flying the white rose flag!

The celebration of Yorkshire promoting the historic English county has been commemorated since 1975 on the 1^st of August each year. Virgin joined in the fun by being the only hot air balloon on Yorkshire’s skyline and boasted an all-Yorkshire pilot and crew.

The flight launched from York Racecourse on Sunday evening for an hour long ride at around 3000 feet, they then landed on the banks of the River Derwent in a lovely grass field where the passengers packed away the balloon and enjoyed the usual Champagne toast.

Passenger Robert Bell, 55 from Easingwold in York said “The flight was brilliant, I really enjoyed it. It was my first time in a hot air balloon and I was lucky enough to receive my flight voucher as a birthday gift from my wife and two children.”

“The views were fantastic and I loved that we were just floating in mid-air. It’s surprising how quiet and peaceful it is when you’re up there,” he added.

Not being from Yorkshire originally, Mr Bell, a construction manager in the north east, wasn’t familiar with celebrations for the county. We’re sure he won’t forget it now after his experience of a lifetime with Virgin Balloon Flights.

Further information regarding Virgin Balloon Flights in Yorkshire is available here.

We hope all you Yorkshire men and women enjoyed your celebrations.

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By Kirsty, March 1, 2010 9:05 am

Hot air ballooning was the very first way man reached for the sky… On November 21st in 1783, the first manned flight was made by young physician, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and army officer François Laurent d’Arlandes in a hot air balloon in Paris, France, created by the Montgolfier brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne. After around 20 minutes in the air, history was made and aviation fascination grew.

Since then ballooning has developed in leaps and bounds and now Virgin Balloon Flights alone take up thousands and thousands of passengers each year.  Flying from over 100 different places in England, Scotland and Wales you never far from the beginning of your adventure. Follow in the footsteps of Jean-François and François Laurent and see the world from a totally new perspective.

Select your perfect ticket package and up, up and away you go!