Hot air balloons light up Longleat in 75th anniversary festival
A fleet of colourful hot air balloons lit up the Wilshire stately home on Thursday.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A fleet of colourful hot air balloons swayed to music from across eight decades to mark 75 years of Longleat being open to the public.
Ten balloons, some shaped like coffee jars and dragons, used their burners to light up the grounds of the Wiltshire stately home in time to music on Thursday evening.
The “night glow” event was part of Longleat’s first Icons of the Sky festival, which also features a pyrotechnic air display and a fireworks display.
Visitors should be able to witness a mass assent of the hot air balloons twice a day, but it was cancelled on Thursday due to poor weather conditions.
The night glows have been choreographed to a specially-selected soundtrack, with music from Glenn Miller through to Taylor Swift.
It also includes the Rolling Stones, who played the estate in 1964, and Sir Elton John, who appeared in 2016 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Safari Park opening.
The festival runs until Sunday.
The 6th Marquess of Bath opened Longleat House as a tourist attraction on April 1 1949 and is now the home of the 8th Marquess and his family.