Hot air balloon heads for m’lady’s bathroom
COUNTESS Bathurst has attacked Virgin after a balloon-load of sightseers floated past her bathroom.
The aristocrat was shocked to open the curtains of her Cirencester Park mansion in Gloucestershire and see the Virgin Balloon Flights craft just yards away.
Posting two pictures on Twitter, she wrote: “NOT the sort of thing you wish to see when you draw the curtains in the morning. Gross invasion of privacy @Virginballoons – not impressed.”
“It was about 9am when it happened,” Lady Sarah, 52, said. “I had been in my bedroom quietly catching up with emails and then I went into the bathroom. I opened the curtains and there was this bloody great big hot air balloon.
“It was so low that it had to gain height to be able to get over the house and carry on. It was totally unacceptable for the pilot to come so close and drop so low.
“He obviously wanted to give his passengers a good close view of the house – and they certainly got one.
“There were about a dozen passengers in the basket and they were so close I could see them clicking away on their cameras and mobile phones with the flashes going off.
“It filled me with alarm. I was in a most private place and although Cirencester Park has been open to the public for access to the grounds for over 300 years this was just not on.”
Lady Sarah, who served last year as the High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, lives at the mansion, set in 15,000 acres of grounds, with her husband Lord Allen Bathurst, 56.
Virgin has been approached for comment.