FLOATING across the sky, hot air balloons are a majestic and colourful sight to behold.

On a housing estate in the middle of town they seem a little out of place. This balloonist, taking part in the Big Balloon Festival at Blackwood, dropped in to Cwmbran on Saturday morning.

Bemused residents of Granston Square, Fairwater, still in their dressing- gowns and pyjamas, woke up to find the unexpected visitor at around 8am.

Michael Price, of Wellington Drive, caught the landing on camera. "I was surprised to see it land quietly in the middle of the very narrow road," he said.

"It was a strange sight, and I'm sure it gave a few people a shock. After all, it's not every day a hot air balloon lands outside your door. "All the kids were crowding round, but he took off again quite soon after and didn't seem to be in any difficulty."

In fact, organisers of the three-day festival said a number of the balloons launched on Saturday touched down in Cwmbran and Pontypool on their way to their destinations.

Balloon co-ordinator Phil Hossack, of Skypower, said: "A lot of the balloons flew over the Pontypool and Cwmbran area and we got reports of them landing in all sorts of strange places.

"There was quite a light wind on Saturday and that forced them to make intermediate landings.

"But there were no serious incidents and no-one was hurt. In most cases they were up and away within a couple of minutes."