IT was a close shave for residents on a Ribble Valley estate when a hot air balloon narrowly missed their houses.

The silver balloon came down between the roofs of two houses in Brockhall Village before settling at the end of a back garden.

Residents living in the village, which is also home to Blackburn Rovers ’ training ground, gathered around to watch the balloon, which was carrying passengers and had a logo for Bowker Cars on the side, float towards the ground.

Nigel Perry, 61, who lives in Provence Avenue, said the balloon only narrowly missed crashing into the roofs.

He said: “It was a bit of a surprise.

“From what we understand it was coming down very quickly and it skimmed over the tops of the houses. I don’t know how it missed.

“It ended up in one of the gardens, some people said it had landed on a hedge.

“The guy was putting flames into the balloon to try to get some heat but it was not rising.

“There were people in the basket and they were waving as it came down, they did not realise how bad it was.”

The incident happened at around 9pm on Wednesday.

After coming down to rest on a hedge, the pilot managed to take off again and land in a field.

The balloon was deflated then and taken away.

Mr Perry said: “There were loads of people out watching and children playing and taking pictures.

“They said it just missed the chimney tops and just kept coming down.

“It was a shock to see it so low, we often get balloons coming over here, they do it a lot in the evening when it is nice, but we’ve never seen anything like this before.”