Virgin Balloon Flights Reviews 

My son & i enjoyed the balloon ride immensely which was an hour long. Our pilot Chris was friendly & informative during the flight. What we weren't awhere of was the hour before & another hour after was spent helping to set up the balloon & pack it away. This meant our flight didn't start till 7pm instead of 6pm & we didn't leave till 9.30pm after getting back to our car. But the 3 guys who organised it all were lovely & made the experience even more enjoyable especially ending with a glass of buck fizz which was a nice touch.

This was our first ever ballon experience and we absolutely loved it from start to finish. Our pilot Nobby Simmons was brilliant and very informative. We were a little nervous at the start but being involved from start to finish with the balloon preparation and chatting with the pilot throughout really helped.
The flight was amazing, beautiful views with various points of interest always pointed out. It was a beautiful hour in the skies and would definitely recommend.
This company are brilliant on safety and making sure the weather conditions are perfect for a great experience. If flights have to be cancelled, it is always for your safety and absolutely worth the wait.
We 100% recommend this fantastic adventure and a glass of bubbly at the end went down a treat!
Hugh thanks

Firstly when booking be aware that you may not do your flight when or where you'd ideally choose to. This is because you can only fly in very specific weather conditions, it may look calm and sunny to you but if the wind is too high it makes landing unsafe and they do not risk safety. Difficult to fully understand until you actually do the flight.
It took us 3 years and 10 attempts, one attempt we actually got to launch site but unfortunately the weather had changed and was unsafe. Launch site may also change to a back up site so be prepared you may be travelling further than planned.
When we first booked it we booked it 3 hours from home, took time off work and booked a hotel and it was cancelled! Best advice is choose a site close to home and be prepared it may go from a back up launch site. It's easy to say but be patient, expect cancellations, there's absolutely nothing you can do and there's no cheat code for 'better' location.
Unfortunately I just stopped getting excited about it and to be honest just wanted to 'get it over and done with'. We know people who just gave up and obviously you don't get a refund. When you do actually do it it'll be worth it. We went from Tissington hall, we booked Bakewell but it was absolutely stunning. Incredible experience and felt super comfortable with our pilot.
You can get involved with set up and definitely need to help packing up. Wear sensible walking shoes as you will land in a random field that may or may not have copious amounts of cow pats!
Just try and go with the flow with getting booked on and rebooking.

Was a great experience from start to finish. Matt the pilot and his ground crew were friendly, professional, knowledgeable and helpful. Would definitely go again.

Had the best morning leaving from Tissington hall. it was amazing.
Thanks to all the crew and especially Tom our pilot.

After many cancellations we finally got our balloon ride and it didn't disappoint!
It was well organised. The crew were knowledgeable, friendly and professional. The flight itself was amazing! It was very serene, the views were stunning, it was a really tranquil and fabulous experience.

pilot was great, ballon look fabulous

Great fun and excellent value

Rutland Morning Balloon Ride

The team work extremely hard, it is clearly both a physically and mentally demanding job. They are good at getting people involved and helping them - which people were very happy to do. They were clear about which tasks were the more physically demanding ones.
Matt is friendly and chatty early in the morning, when some of the guests can be nervous about the upcoming experience.
In flight Matt rotated the balloon, so that everyone got a good view. Great to see other ballon's up there too. Excellent visibility.
It was our 7th time of trying to fly - and with the exceptional hot weather this year, we can totally understand why there were previous cancellations.
I also recognise that there are prevailing winds over Rutland Water. So it hardly surprising that they had landed in that field or the neighbouring field, in the last couple of flights in this location.
The landing was extremely gentle - expertly done.
The mioni bus was clean and comfortable for the trip back to the car. It is very definitely an experience - not a day out. We were safely back at our car by 08.30am - in time to go to work with a hastily drunk Prosecco inside of us. The only thing I would like to have changed is for it to have been a little longer.. The team are so slick and skilled at getting you up, down packed up and back - That it does feel like a very well practised experience.

Great evening all around. It was really good participating in setting the balloon up and packing it away. The views were incredible, and felt extremely safe throughout.

We had the most amazing flight with Virgin Ballons.
Chris Andow and his team at Fernhurst made us feel very safe. They were helpful, funny and very experienced. We had fun helping to set the ballon up and even more fun packng it way! The whole experience was truly magical. Would highly recommend to anyone thinking of doing it !

After 7 years continuously trying to get a flight, we wanted to launch from the Norwich site as lots to see picture opportunity wise with the castle & a number of cathedrals. Even though they still advertise the Norwich launch location, they no longer operate from this site. Finally got to fly from Mattishall golf club. The pilot & ground team were great, but like all their other launch sites all you’re going to see is flat fields & houses as Norfolk is flat & featureless! That’s why we wanted to fly from Norwich which they no longer use. We seemed to go around in a big circle so we didn’t travel very far which was a bit disappointing so same scenic view for most of the flight. As I said before the pilot & crew were great explaining everything & friendly. The landing was a hard three bumps so if you have any kind of back issue forget this activity. Nice to tick this finally off my bucket list, wish we could flown from Norwich which is why we booked in the first place 7 years ago. But at least we have now finally completed this activity.

We had a beautiful early morning flight over Kent countryside. With our pilot, pointing out local places of interest.

Absolutely amazing!
Beautiful views over Rutland water.
Pilot and crew were excellent and made the experience brilliant.

Was disappointed at first that we weren’t flying from Canterbury in Kent and it was a effort to
Travel to hop farm in paddock wood and then when we arrived it was still doubtful but we finally got off the ground by 7.50 and well it was amazing
So glad we travelled to catch the balloon ride.
The views were incredible so clear and quite. The only trouble I had was getting in and out of the basket that was like watching a stranded giraffe legs everywhere. Why couldn’t you have a rope ladder it might have been easier
Anyway aside from that if you haven’t been on a balloon flight then do it.
It’s well worth it loved every moment of if it even the ruff landing lol

Worth getting up at 4.15 for.
Flying from Welford Christmas Tree farm at 6.30 AM, on a sunny Sunday morning.
The team were great. Friendly and helpful, giving us a pre-flight safety talk, and pointing out places of interest during the flight.
We were " hands-on " inflating the envelope and with folding and storing on landing, which added to the experience.
I'm thinking that I will be back for more.

Had a virgin balloon ride on Friday 7/8/26 with my best friends as a belated birthday present.
Took off in Northamptonshire.
The pilot was very informative and friendly.
We had a perfect landing, after which we were offered Prosecco and oj and our balloon certificates.
Overall highly recommend . Luke and the team were brilliant.

The crew was really friendly knowledgeable and enjoyable to be around answered any questions the experience was amazing. Will do it again in the near future.

Had a great experience, finally got out today after many many cancellations over this last year, a very happy birthday for my girl friend who was also overjoyed by it all

Absolutely fantastic. Dave and his team were fantastic. Well worth the wait.