{"id":290269,"date":"2025-07-25T09:52:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T09:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/290269\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T09:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T09:52:14","slug":"hot-air-balloons-fill-the-sky-above-bristol-ahead-of-annual-fiesta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/290269\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot air balloons fill the sky above Bristol ahead of annual fiesta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Balloons launched from College Green in the heart of the city on Friday morning, as commuters gathered to watch the inflation and ascent.<\/p>\n

The launch took in views of Bristol\u2019s City Hall, cathedral, historic harbourside and Temple Meads train station.<\/p>\n

\"APilots inflating the canopy as they prepare for flight (Ben Birchall\/PA)<\/p>\n

The 47th Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, which is free to attend, will return to Ashton Court Estate from August 8 to 10, celebrating the city and its hot air balloon heritage.<\/p>\n

More than 100 balloons are expected to take part in this year\u2019s mass ascents, scheduled for 6am and 6pm each day, weather permitting.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the PA news agency, Steve Thomas, a pilot from the Hot Air Balloon Company, based near Bath, said: \u201cWe had a perfect morning for flying over Bristol.<\/p>\n

\"FourThe balloons took in the sights of Bristol (Ben Birchall\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

\u201cSteady speeds out of College Green, perfect track all the way into Keynsham.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe weather was perfect, with nice visibility across the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did get a bit hazy as the flight came on, so we dropped down our altitude as we came in to land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ABalloon pilots check the interior canopy rigging as they prepare for flight (Ben Birchall\/PA)<\/p>\n

Mr Thomas, who has been working as a hot air balloon pilot for around 10 years, said the team is really looking forward to the fiesta, describing it as an important event for the city.<\/p>\n

Hot air ballooning has been a historic part of Bristol\u2019s culture for many years, with the first recorded flight in the city dating back to the 18th century.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Fiesta programme includes the return of fan favourites, alongside new attractions making their debut.<\/p>\n

\"HotHot air balloons over Bristol (Ben Birchall\/PA)<\/p>\n

In the line-up will be beloved classics alongside new additions, including the Up balloon, Wallace and Gromit Moon Rocket, Thomas the Tank Engine and Sonic the Hedgehog.<\/p>\n

On both Friday and Saturday evenings, visitors to the festival can experience nightglows, where\u00a0dozens of balloons inflate and use their burners to glow in time to music.<\/p>\n

Helen Godwin, the new mayor of the West of England, said: \u201cThose of us lucky enough to grow up here in the West Country know there\u2019s nothing quite like the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.<\/p>\n

\"HotHot air ballooning has been a historic part of Bristol\u2019s culture for many years (Ben Birchall\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing our skies full of shapes and colours is truly special, whether you find balloons already flying overhead or hoping the wind will bring them your way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Balloons launched from College Green in the heart of the city on Friday morning, as commuters gathered to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-290269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114913263361026938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}