Joe Churcher, 39, from London, was on route to catch a train home on Friday evening when this spectacular sight caught his eye, a Virgin hot air balloon.
“I was alerted, by a crowd of
animatedly 
pointing tourists stood
outside a shop, to the presence of an aerial attraction. Looking up to see the balloon making its majestic way over Oxford’s spires, I reached for my camera and took some shots of its voyage using Oxford Castle as the foreground. As it disappeared behind the battlements I was about to head off to the station when it occurred to me that it was about to reappear between the crenellations so I hung on and snapped it,” said Joe.
Joe, who works as a political journalist, enjoyed his very own airborne adventure a few years ago with his father. Whilst gliding above the Hampshire countryside, Joe also snapped this picture below.
“The contrasts of immense peace 
and intense burner noise, the views, the nervous excitement at being able to see exactly what it is that’s holding you in the air. On the flight I took a bird’s eye view of the Hampshire farm we had recently discovered had been worked by our ancestors – as well as Roman Abramovich’s half-constructed mansion!”
For further information about flying from Oxford please visit www.virginballoonflights.co.uk or call 01952 212750.
We’re always saying how magical it is to fly in a hot air balloon is so it was quite fitting when TV illusionist Derren Brown joined us for a sky-high sightseeing tour.
Derren, who has performed various stage shows, television specials and series such as Trick or Treat, took a hot air balloon ride from Henley-on-Thames on Saturday evening.
Derren Brown tweets in our Virgin balloon
Flying with pilot Mark Shemilt and eventually landing in Reading, Derren described the balloon flight as a ‘totally dreamy’ experience.
“I had no idea what to expect and the whole thing was fantastic. Utterly serene, totally dreamy, and even a couple who were nervous beforehand loved the whole thing. Thank you for a terrific evening,” he said.
Derren tweeted several times during the flight, including when they drifted over Uri Geller’s house, and after a comfortable landing he praised Mark for his piloting skills.
Mark said: “I’m delighted Derren enjoyed the flight. It was quite funny as other passengers gradually realised who he was and started nudging each other. He chatted to everyone and told us about his new show. It was a pleasure to meet him.”
Visit Derren Brown’s Blog or follow Derren on Twitter.
Book your own magical hot air balloon ride here
My name is Lauren, and for the past four days I’ve been enjoying the joys of office life at Virgin Balloon Flights for my work experience. I am a student at Wolverhampton Girls’ High School and currently doing my GCSE’s where I have taken Japanese, Art, PE and Geography. Although I love the options I have taken, I am really interested in TV, media and advertising; therefore, receiving a placement in the Marketing Department of Virgin Balloon Flights has been a fantastic opportunity to get a foot in the door.
In the four days that I have been here, I’ve been kept very busy getting a feel for customer services, short listing the images for Virgin Balloon Flight’s brilliant photo competition, researching various sites for customer feedback, advertising opportunities and getting a general feel for the amount of hard work and dedication that the staff do down here, in order to make your balloon flight an experience of a lifetime.
I have learnt so much in the time that I have been here, including how to write blogs (this is my first one), how the basis of digital marketing works, what Virgin Balloon Flights promote and the ‘fun fun fun’ ethos of the Virgin brand itself.
Also, whilst researching the 100+ launch sites that Virgin Balloon Flights have around the country, I came across St. Albans in Hertfordshire and Newby Bridge in Lake Windermere that I would love to fly from, particularly Lake Windermere as it has specific sentimental value for me. 
Unfortunately, due the weather, I wasn’t able to go and see a launch; however, I will definitely embark on an airborne adventure in the near future!
Virgin is a worldwide organisation and is one of the most recognised and respected brands, I feel thoroughly honoured to have been able to work within this company. I’d like to say and HUGE thank you to Eve, Kirsty and the rest of the staff that work at Virgin Balloon Flights for helping me settle in and making my work experience one that I will never forget! 
Lauren x
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getting work in Virgin, marketing, marketing in virgin companies, newby bridge, photo competition, The Virgin Brand, virgin balloons from St Albans, work experience, work experience at virgin companies
33 year old Mani Manota of Leeds, Yorkshire, yesterday popped the all important question to long-term girlfriend Maria,25, at 1200ft above York!
The happy couple who met six years ago whilst working in a bar had both talked about the prospect of marriage but Maria had no idea what Mani had planned.
“I thought about Paris and the Eiffel tower but everyone seemed to have done that and for some reason it seemed too cheesy. I was nervous about the whole thing and having one date cancelled due to weather I was nervous right up until the night before when the message from pilot Dave Sutcliffe said the flight was going ahead, no turning back now!
Maria didn’t know anything about the Balloon ride. I asked her to wear warm but clothes she wouldn’t mind getting dirty, she assumed I was going to take her horse riding or visiting a farm, she had no idea until we turned up at York Racecourse and I pointed out the baskets. Much to my relief she was ecstatic at the prospect of going up in a hot air balloon, a first for us both,” said Mani.
At 1200ft the moment Mani had been waiting for arrived and as Maria turned away he dropped to one knee! Of course, she said yes and they celebrated with a traditional Champagne toast after landing.
“The flight was brilliant, very peaceful up in the air with no engine noise letting just the wind direct us, we had brilliant views over York, we could see for miles. We both liked the fact we were involved in everything from getting the balloon off the trailer to the inflation and then helping to get it deflated too. The overall experience was brilliant and would recommend it to anyone. I’m glad I chose Virgin.”
Congratulations to you both! The team at Virgin Balloon Flights wish you the very best for your wedding and future life together.
For information regarding hot air balloon ride launch sites and prices simply visit www.virginballoonflights.co.uk or call 01952 212750.
Balloon Pilot and Crew, General ballooning stuff, Hot Air Balloon Launch Sites, Hot Air Balloon Photography, Hot Air Balloon Rides, Hot Air Ballooning, hot air ballooning, Romantic Gifts, Valentine's Day, Virgin Balloon Flights reviews
| engagement in a hot air balloon ride, proposing in a hot air balloon
Kathlyn Cracknell of Halstead Essex took to the skies with pilot Chris Wood last week and became the oldest passenger to ever fly in his balloon.
“I can’t ever remember flying anyone of that age. Kathlyn thoroughly enjoyed the flight and it was great to have her on-board” said Chris.
Kathlyn and her friend Brenda, who she has lived with for the past seven years brought the balloon flight vouchers to celebrate Kathlyn’s birthday last year and got in the air at the beginning of 2011’s flight season.
When asking Brenda what Kathlyn enjoyed about the flight, she said “All of it! She was happy to gaze down on her beloved England and feel the serenity of it all. She was delighted by the sights she saw: the patchwork of fields, the roads, cars, people and animals. She saw a train, a light aircraft 
landing, and was particularly pleased to see a herd of deer. Kathy’s sense of humour came to the fore when she claimed to have seen her bloomers hanging on the line as we passed over Halstead.”
‘Honoured’ to be Chris’ oldest passenger Kathlyn swears her longevity is down to ‘pure thoughts’ and is making plans to fly with us again when she reaches one hundred.
Welcome to our hall of fame Kathlyn!
We believe in freedom of expression which is why we regularly seek feedback from our customers about our balloon rides.
If we don’t know what’s broken, we won’t know it needs fixing. So, we like to get your thoughts on how we can improve our website when buying a balloon ride voucher. We also like to know what you think of your hot air balloon ride with us and your pilot.
As most of our balloon rides are bought as gifts for birthdays, presents, anniversaries etc it’s not always the person that pays that gets to experience the wonderful world of ballooning, so it’s good to get a different perspective.
To say thank you for helping us out each flying season we randomly pick someone who has taken the time to complete one of our surveys (which are emailed out weekly) and send them a lovely case of wine from Virgin Wines worth over £100, and as the flying season ends around November, this tasty treat arrives just in time for Christmas.
Win a great mixed case of Virgin Wine
The lucky winner last season was Kevin Eaton from Ratby in Leicestershire. Kevin was over the moon as he said it was the first time he’d ever won anything.
Well done Kevin!
Thanks to you and everyone who shared their opinions with us last year.
Visit our website to buy a balloon ride voucher from just £89!
Yorkshire balloon pilot Dave Sutcliffe was bowled over last week as England cricketer Tim Bresnan took to the skies with him, just a day after beating Bangladesh in the one-day series.
Tim Bresnan and Hannah 3000 feet up!
The top Yorkshire and England bowler, 25, bought Virgin Balloon Flight vouchers as a surprise gift for girlfriend Hannah’s birthday.
“We’re both quite adventurous, and I wanted to think of something unusual to celebrate Hannah’s birthday. Neither of us had flown in a hot air balloon before so I bought the tickets and told Hannah the night before the flight,” said Tim, who is originally from Pontefract in West Yorkshire.
“I was quite nervous, but it’s actually very surreal when you’re up there, it’s a weird sensation and we really enjoyed it! We got to see horses, hares, deer and even a windmill,” he added.
Pilot Dave, 43, said: “It took me a while to realise where I knew Tim from, then I realised who he was when completing the passenger safety briefing. It was only the day before I was watching him help win the series against Bangladesh at Edgbaston.”
“All the passengers sang happy birthday to Tim’s girlfriend Hannah at 2,500 feet in the air. It was a great flight topped off with a Champagne toast after landing in Church Fenton.”
After England’s win, Tim will enjoy a week’s break before getting back on the pitch and a Virgin Balloon Flight was the perfect way to start his week off.
More information regarding Virgin Balloon Flights in Yorkshire is available here.
As Tony Ward’s 70th birthday approached, his daughters Lisa and Debbie thought a balloon ride with Virgin Balloon Flights would be the perfect gift to celebrate in style at 3000 feet
Lisa (left) Tony & Debbie Ward celebrating with VBF
in the air!
Lisa (left), 42 from Scarborough and sister Debbie, 40 from Riccall, arranged the hot air balloon flight to take place from York Racecourse with pilot Martin collinson on Saturday 3rd of July, 2010. The early morning flight rose blissfully above York allowing the Ward family to see both deer in the woods and York city from the sky.
“The flight was one of the best things we have ever done. It was absolutely perfect and the weather conditions were perfect too, as were all the team we met.” said Lisa
“The whole experience will stay as a memory forever, including inflating and deflating the balloon and putting the balloon away – it was all really good fun!” she added.
Pilot Martin, said it was great to have the Ward family on board celebrating Tony’s birthday. He gave a special mention to Lisa for her efforts in packing away the balloon and said Tony cracked a great joke ….
“The trouble with age is that you lose three things. First your memory and the other two I can’t remember!”
Happy birthday Tony from all of us here at Virgin Balloon Flights!
If you’re looking to purchase balloon flight vouchers as a gift simply visit our website virginballoonflights.co.uk or call 01952 212 750.
Throughout the hot air ballooning season we receive comments, suggestions and messages of thanks from customers who have flown or are waiting to fly with us at Virgin Balloon Flights. Reviews are much appreciated as the good ones let us know we’re going in the right direction and, occasionally, the not so good ones help us to improve.
Generally the feedback we get is very good like this message from Kyle Barrett and Narelle Summers after their recent flight over York
‘Thank you so much for our wonderful morning from start to finish. Thank you to Martin our pilot and crew. We managed to capture some wonderful pictures we thought we would share with you.’
Virgin hot air balloon over York
Airborne Adventurers Kyle and Narelle
- Balloon shadow over Yorkshire
Understandably some passengers experience frustration with the ‘great’ British weather which comes through in some customer reviews. Ballooning is a very weather dependent activity and sometimes flights have to be cancelled because of this or other factors outside of our control. Some of these conditions may be high wind speeds, poor visibility, unusually wet ground conditions, low cloud, rain or snow. We know that having flights cancelled can be frustrating, particularly as sometimes conditions can look and feel fine on the ground, but can be unsuitable at height, or the conditions are forecast to deteriorate.
Our highly-experienced pilots base their decisions on the latest forecasts from the MET office and local airports and they will always proceed with a flight if it is safe and possible to do so. Occasionally the weather forecasts we are given prove to be incorrect. This may mean that either we have to cancel a flight at the launch site, or a flight is cancelled when conditions would potentially have been flyable. Obviously weather forecasting is not an exact science, but it is this careful consideration of conditions which makes ballooning such a safe activity.
Many people fly on their first attempt but for others it can take a few tries. It really is down to luck and each year is different. So hot air ballooning can take a bit of patience, but the more bookings you make the quicker you’ll get airborne and we can assure you it will be worth the wait. It is also important to point out that the expiry date on vouchers is a ‘book by’ date, not a ‘fly by’ date and we will always look to extend balloon flight vouchers if people suffer cancellations near to their expiry date. So keep your reviews coming in and, if you have any questions, please get in touch.
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