Hot Air Balloon Rides in Essex
Essex often gets a raw deal but anybody who has the opportunity to view the county from the skies will literally see issues very differently. A hot air balloon ride over the region provides the perfect possibility to view a lot of historic landmarks and sites of interest from a entirely new perspective – or a lot more specifically from anything up to 5,000 feet.
Essex’s county city Chelmsford was declared a marketplace town by King John in 1119 and any balloon flight leaving in the town will give passengers spectacular views more than the county cricket ground, the stunning river Can and even the 15th century cathedral. Nearby Hylands House, set in a 500 acre landscaped parkland, underwent a heavy restoration programme having been left derelict for numerous years and can be seen from the basket of balloon flights more than central Essex as well.
North Essex is an additional well-liked location for hot air balloon rides and no flight here would be complete with no seeing Colchester Castle. Constructed by William the Conqueror, the internet site is the very first, and incidentally, largest royal castle to be built completely of stone.
From Colchester your flight path may well take you around Coggeshall, renowned as a centre for antiques, proudly displaying its many fine timber framed buildings. Perhaps you’ll gaze down about the bustling market town of Braintree sitting astride 1 of numerous Roman roads crossing the county. Alternatively you might come across yourself suspended in excess of Wivenhoe for a moment or two as you cast a glance down at the city set around the wooded slopes in the River Colne. Blessed with many attractive old inns and a incredibly pretty quayside, you may well be enticed into a go to post-flight for any bite to eat or a glass of the local ale. Dependent within the direction the wind takes you, you might also see Kelvedon. The village nestles inside a wide bend in River Blackwater and is the latest inside a lengthy history of settlements to occupy the internet site, dating back to pre-Roman times. A balloon flight that takes you further south may well offer you the possibility to watch Brentwood, Billericay and nearby Norsey Wood Nature Reserve.
Whichever Essex Balloon Ride you select you will undoubtedly spot countless Essex windmills beneath you, the most famous of which is John Webb’s 19th century masterpiece at Thaxted. It quickly becomes clear that despite being the brunt of several jokes, Essex is actually a county steeped in centuries of background and culture, with bustling towns and villages which give solution to rolling hills, forests and miles of stunning coastline all of which make for an exhilarating hot air balloon ride
No two balloon flights are ever the same, so where you’ll fly and what you’ll see, be it chimney pots or countryside, is genuinely as much as the wind (having a little help from your pilot). Just don’t forget to take your camera, binoculars or camcorder to record the magic of a balloon flight encounter.