More than thirty balloons take to the skies over Bristol ahead of Balloon Fiesta

Watch balloons taking off this morning

More than thirty hot air balloons took to the skies over Bristol this morning ahead of the Balloon Fiesta next week.

The pre-flights took place ahead of the return of the festival, which will be the first full version of the event for three years.

The last two events were scaled down because of the pandemic.

This year's fiesta will take place from Thursday 11 August to Sunday 14 August.

The morning flight gave a small flavour of what people can expect to see at the main event, when hundreds of balloons will take off simultaneously over the city.

As well as the mass ascents, there will also be the popular 'nightglow', which sees balloons gathering and lighting up in time to music.

Bristol Balloon Fiesta first took place in 1979 after Don Cameron, of Cameron Balloons, and some friends came up with the idea over a pint.

The original event saw just 27 balloons take off, but the annual festival has continued to grow in popularity and size over 43 years.