Schoolchildren in Bassingbourn had an exciting surprise waiting for them when they arrived at school on Tuesday morning – a hot air balloon landing on one of the school fields.

Royston Crow: The balloon landing.The balloon landing. (Image: Archant)

Solo balloonist Adrian Brown had set off just 30 minutes earlier from a field north of Bassingbourn and was aware that the wind conditions were light and variable in direction.

He said: “Ideally we like to land close to a road or track to enable easy access for the retrieve crew to come and collect us.

Royston Crow: Adrian took this snap of Bassingbourn from his Balloon.Adrian took this snap of Bassingbourn from his Balloon. (Image: Archant)

“With such light winds I didn’t think we would be able to reach Royston Heath. Royston Road from Litlington has the complication of power lines and sheep in the fields which I did not want to disturb.

“I could see there was plenty space to land by Bassingbourn Village College – with the movement of the wind turbine and some smoke coming out of one of the buildings, I could judge the wind movement on the ground.”

Adrian, from Litlington, enjoys flying hot air balloons and can often be seen above the Morden villages hanging below one of his two balloons. His daughter Katie, who is a Year 8 student at the college, enjoys flying with her father but hasn’t yet been flown to school by dad.

On this occasion he was flying his Cloud Hopper which has no basket, just a one-man seat with fuel cylinder strapped to a frame on his back. Landing between the school’s creative arts block and the sports sentre, Adrian attracted the attention of a crowd of students from both the college and the nearby primary school.

Adrian runs an engineering company in Baldock but has been ballooning for 25 years, a hobby which has taken him across Britain and Europe.

Last summer he was part of a record-breaking hot air balloon meet in Metz, France, which saw 433 balloons launched from the same runway. To see another video of Adrian landing, click here.