Bristol International Balloon Fiesta: Flights fill morning sky ahead of festival

It was up, up and away for hot air balloons as they launched for a flight ahead of the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta which begins later this week.

A selection of balloons took off from Ashton Court Estate earlier to fly over Bristol towards Longwell Green, Keynsham and Kingswood.

Special shaped balloons will be showing from 17:00 BST on Thursday, with a mass ascent scheduled for 18:00.

The event runs from Thursday to Sunday.

Around 20 balloons launched in a test flight from the Ashton Court Estate

Around 20 balloons took to the skies earlier today

More than 500,000 people are expected to attend the fiesta this year, which is one of the highlights of the Bristol summer events calendar.

Up to 100 balloons are expected to take flight during the 45th edition of the free festival.

Shuttle buses will be running to and from Ashton Court, with parking spaces pre-paid.

This year is the 45th year of the fiesta

The launch was the second pre-fiesta event to take place in the past couple of weeks.

It comes after nine hot air balloons were inflated in Bristol city centre - which were unable to fly due to a lack of wind.

The event runs for four days from Thursday 10 August

.