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A
One hundred visitors to Stonehenge from
all over the UK and beyond enjoyed the ‘trip
of a lifetime’ in a Virgin hot air
balloon overlooking the famous landmark.
A steady stream of prize
winners and other lucky people were whisked
up to between 50ft and100ft in a tethered
balloon to get a spectacular view of the
stones on August 5 and 6.
‘Amazing’, ‘magnificent’,
‘surreal’ and ‘brilliant’
were all words they used to describe the
unique experience of recreating the taking
of the first aerial photograph at Stonehenge
100 years ago.
The Mahon family from Irchester,
Near Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, was
among the group who enjoyed the adventure
during English Heritage’s 100 Years
of Discovery exhibition.
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Dad
Douglas, mum Lynn, son Sam, 11,
and daughters Leah, 9, and Lydia,
10, who were on a camping trip to
nearby Salisbury, were picked out
of the crowd to take to the sky.
Douglas,
an electronics engineer who originally
hails from Niagara Falls in Canada,
said he was delighted to take part
as none of the family had been in
a balloon before.
Lynn
said: “It was brilliant. It’s
amazing what you can see even from
a short height. It gives the stones
a different dimension as they look
even larger from the air. It really
is impressive when you consider
the age of it.”
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| The
Mahon Family
Douglas, Lynn, Leah, Sam
and Lydia. |
Larry and Liz Coase, from Stalybridge,
hadn’t been to the stones
since the early 1970s and said the
flight made their return even more
special.
Larry said: “It was brilliant.
It looks even more magnificent from
the air because you cannot understand
how they got the stones from 240
miles away because of the nature
of the terrain.”
He said it was their first flight
and they now wanted to go further
on a free flight.
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| Larry
and Liz Coase |
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Sam
Boyce and Michelle Gurrera were
in the UK visiting from North Carolina
in the USA.
“It
was the first time we’d been
up so it was pretty cool. The stones
look even more amazing from up in
the balloon.”
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| Sam
Boyce and
Michelle Gurrera |
Joe and Jennifer Ramos will take
a nice final memory of England away
with them when they return home
to the USA after living here for
six years next month.
Joe said had always like hot air
balloons and had been to a huge
fiesta in New Mexico but had never
been in one before.
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| Jennifer
and Joe Ramos |
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Karen
Botten and Simon Longman, of Blandford,
Dorset, had been to see the stones
up close in the past and flown in
a balloon in Brisbane, Australia,
but said this was a new and excellent
experience.
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| Karen
Botten and
Simon Longman |
Some English Heritage staff also
got airborne during the event. Stonehenge
custodians Emily Fishlock, 20, Gavin
Stewart, 22, and Jenny Parrett,
20, all had flights.
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| Jenny
Parrett,
Gavin Stewart and
Emily Fishlock |
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Security
guard Tony Leavey and audio guide
distributor Simon Kinghorn, also
went up.
“I’d
never been up in a balloon before
and it was a once in a lifetime
experience to see the stones from
above. It’s a bit surreal,”
said Simon.
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| Simon
Kinghorn and
Tony Leavey |
For more information or
to book a flight visit www.virginballoonflights.co.uk
or call 0870 444 2768.
For press enquires
please call PR & Marketing Account Manager
Alex Ferguson on 01952 212760 or email alexf@virginballoonflights.co.uk
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