Muriel Scott, at 99, is on cloud nine having just been up, up and away on her first beautiful balloon flight on Saturday, June 27.

For Muriel it was a long-held wish come true.

She said: “I used to look up at hot air balloons and long for the experience of floating among the clouds and looking down over the countryside and this flight was everything I wanted it to be.”

Muriel always remembers her older brother Jim talking to her about riding in a hot air balloon and this is what started her wanting to experience it for herself.

She told her wish to the care team at Crabwall Hall Care Home in Mollington, near Chester, where she now lives and they set out to make it come true.

The home’s manager Charlene Beck accompanied Muriel on the early morning flight from Whitchurch, so that she could watch the sunrise from the sky.

Charlene said: “Crabwall Hall is a brighterkind care home and we have a wishing well scheme in each of our 70 homes. We try to learn about something special that people really want to do as their magic moments and we make it happen whenever we are able.”