Wickers World Ltd

Ballooning with Wickers World. 
Established in 1987 by experienced commercial balloonists Jon Rudoni and Andy Rawson, the company now has the ability to fly more than 6000 thousand passengers each year and owns a fleet of ten balloons. As a family business we are passionate about ballooning, and offer our customers an unrivalled service.

Derbyshire and the Peak district. 
We have three fantastic launch sites in Derbyshire – all within the Peak District National Park. We probably shouldn’t have favourites, but this is the most beautiful of the areas over which we go ballooning!
•    Rowsley, Near Chatsworth House, Bakewell & Matlock.
•    Tissington Hall, Near Ashbourne on the Buxton road.
•    Glutton Bridge, just south of Buxton.

Close to Chatsworth House, our most northerly launch site is a stunning private venue near Rowsley, right next to the river Derwent. Situated about halfway between Matlock and Bakewell, Rowsley is ideally located for those of you who may wish to enjoy a day in the Derbyshire Dales, with both Bakewell and Matlock within a few miles.

Why not make your day even more memorable by visiting Chatsworth House whilst in the area? The parkland, designed by ‘Capability Brown’ in the 1760’s, is free to the public and open all year round.
A few miles north of the historic market town of Ashbourne lies our second Derbyshire launch site in the village of Tissington. This privately owned hamlet is part of the Tissington Estate. The Hall has been occupied by the FitzHerbert family since 1609.
Of course, close to the village lies the famous Tissington Trail, a disused railway line now transformed into a wonderful walk and cyclepath linking Ashbourne and Buxton. So for the energetic amongst you we can heartily recommend a brisk stroll either before or after your hot air balloon ride in the Peak District!

Our third launch venue is at Glutton Bridge, just south of Buxton. Once again, this is a secluded, private venue, set amongst some of the most stunning hills and scenery in the entire Peak District – a real gem to fly from!

We need to have these three different launch sites for one simple reason – balloons cannot be steered, and are simply carried by the breeze! So, before each flight we carefully check the wind direction, and then decide which launch site will give us the best flight. We need to make sure that we don’t inadvertently drift into the controlled airspace of either East Midlands or Manchester Airports, and must also consider the possible terrain on which we’ll be landing.