Going up!

As the Welcome Building timber frame continues to go up and into its final position, I was lucky enough to hitch a ride in an air balloon in early October to get a very different perspective of the arboretum and the Project and most importantly to get some new aerial photos.

I've never quite realised how large air balloons are until your stood next one whilst it's being inflated!

The balloon about to take off, which was much more gentle than I had imagined

The autumn colour was just starting to appear. This is a photo taken of the Old Arboretum, you can see Holford Ride at the top of the photo, as well as Specimen Avenue and Mitchell Drive.

The new car park and Welcome Building. If you click the image, you can see the disabled car parking spaces, a row of lighting bollards and the two new picnic areas (that look like Pictionary pieces from the air!) and the Welcome Building. The finishing touches to the car park including new signage, benches and trees start to arrive and will soften and blend the car park into the landscape.

The whole arboretum today. We hope to be able to go up again in an air balloon later next year once the Welcome Building is complete and the existing car park is removed.