Pictures show beautiful scenes from the first two days of the Longleat Icons of the Sky balloon and air show as a final day flight was affected by wind.

This year’s hot air balloon show ran from Friday to Sunday, September 13 to 15, celebrating 75 years of the Wiltshire stately home being open to the public.

The hot air balloon flights are very weather dependent, and Sunday flights were cancelled due to wind risking blowing the big balloons into military areas.(Image: Longleat)

However, pilots made the most of the day by performing short-flying ‘hops’ with 30 balloons instead.

The festival saw two days over 100 balloons, including an elephant, a coffee jar, a UFO and a parrot, floating hight in the sky.

Two “mass ascents” were scheduled each day for morning and evening, with a third lit-up balloon ascent in the dark set to music from the eight decades of Longleat’s history of being open.(Image: Longleat)

As well as balloons, the show also included air and pyrotechnic displays - sometimes combined as Grob aircraft “set the sky alight with a stunning pyrotechnic spectacular”.

Sunday, September 15 is the last scheduled day of the event and the organisers are keeping an eye on weather conditions as they hope to see off the spectacle with more full balloon flights.

Daisy Mercedes, event coordinator, said: “It is a weather dependent event which means we need calm, stable and dry conditions to fly balloons safely and safety has to be our priority.(Image: Longleat)

“However, our pilots were keen to show inflation, burner techniques and different landing styles so did short hops from the top of the road in front of Longleat House to the side of the lake with a few flying a little further.

“The air display has been spectacular – yesterday we had our first Tiger Moths’ flight which was stunning and we’re all looking forward to watching that again this afternoon, as well as the Spitfire flight, helicopters, wing walkers and much more.

“We are continuing to monitor the weather for the mass ascent due at 5pm and the nightglow at 8pm, however, the forecast is good for the other scheduled events.

“We are fortunate at Longleat that even when the programmed events can’t go ahead or are restricted there is plenty of other attractions to ensure guests are entertained.”