The gilded nose
Gold leaf, laid by hand.
Forty-one square metres of 23 carat leaf over a spun cone, fluted like a theatre ceiling. It is the first thing to catch the sun and the last thing you see as she swings to the mast.
Slow voyages by airshipWrenfield, Bedfordshire
Britain, at the pace of a cloud.
The HAV Kingfisher leaves her mast at first light and crosses the country at fifty knots, low enough to read the hedgerows. There is a promenade, a proper dinner and nowhere to be.
Scroll to cast off
01The ship
The ship, from nose to rudder
The envelope
Doped linen, nose to tail.
Twenty-four longerons, twenty-two rings and five coats of ivory dope. Her name is painted in letters taller than a double-decker bus, so it reads from the village green.
The engines
Six propellers, turning slowly.
Six quiet electric nacelles drive walnut propellers at four hundred revolutions a minute. In the lounge you hear a hum, the wind and the clink of your own glass.
The fins
A tail like a cathedral.
Four fins, each the size of a tennis court, with rudders and elevators worked from a brass wheel on the bridge. The coral pennant flies from the upper fin on every voyage.
IIV
02Anatomy of an airship
Lighter than air, built like a bridge.
The frame
Under the linen is a lattice of riveted duralumin, light enough that two riggers can carry a ring section between them. Every wire is checked by hand before the season.
The gas cells
Eleven cells of helium breathe as she climbs and cools. Helium does not burn, and we carry enough spare lift to fly home with two cells empty.
The decks
A deck holds thirty-six cabins, each with a window cut in the envelope. B deck holds the dining saloon and the galley. A stair drops from there to the promenade.
IIII
03The promenade
The promenade lounge
Step aboard
A room with the whole sky in it.
The promenade runs twenty metres under the hull, glazed from knee to ceiling on both sides. The windows open. At fifty knots the air comes in like a warm afternoon.
Take a chair
Velvet, walnut, a lamp each.
Club chairs in coral and teal, low tables and a bar at the aft end that opens at noon. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea are all served here.
Look down
England, sliding past.
Two thousand feet is low enough to follow a single tractor along a lane. The captain calls the landmarks. Nobody minds if you do not listen.
IIII
04The Round Britain
Nine days. One slow circle.
The route
Out along the Cotswold edge, north by the mountains and home down the east coast. She leaves Wrenfield on the first Saturday of each month, April to October.
- 01
Day one · 06:40
Wrenfield Mast
Cast off from the mast beside Shed No. 2 as the mist lifts from the Ouse.
- 02
Day one · 11:15
The Cotswold Edge
Lunch over honey-coloured villages, low enough to wave at.
- 03
Day two · 08:00
Eryri
Up the Menai Strait and round the shoulder of Yr Wyddfa at dawn.
- 04
Day three · 16:30
Windermere
We moor to a float on the lake. Supper ashore, if you like.
- 05
Day five · 19:00
Edinburgh
Over the three Forth bridges at dusk, with the castle lit.
- 06
Day six · 10:20
Skye
The Cuillin from above, then the long turn for home.
- 07
Day eight · 07:45
Holy Island
Down the Northumberland coast with the tide out over the causeway.
- 08
Day nine · 15:00
The Wash
Across the fens with the light going gold, and home in time for supper.
05Golden hour
Dinner is served above the weather.
Most evenings the captain climbs through the cloud for an hour, so the first course arrives over a sea of it. The light does the rest.
06Compose your voyage
Choose an hour, a sky and a livery.
Departing at 19:10 over a cloud sea, in ivory and brass.
The house colours since the first season.
From£2,950per guest, one night
07Your turn on the bridge
Take the helm.
Guests are invited to the bridge once a day. Turn the wheel and she banks. Drop ballast and she climbs through the cloud. Drag across the sky, or use the controls.
Riding just above the cloud tops.
08Night watch
Night aboard
22:30, north of the Tay
The lamps go down.
After dinner the upper gallery opens and the promenade lamps are turned low. On clear nights from September the aurora is common, and the searchlights pick out the cloud below.
Sleep at altitude
Wake somewhere else.
Thirty-six cabins, each with a proper bed, a basin and a window. The engines drop to a murmur. By breakfast you are over a different county.
III
The seasonApril to October
Four voyages, all of them slow.
Every fare includes your cabin where there is one, all meals and wine, the bridge visit and a seat in the promenade. Prices are per guest, two sharing.
- I
The Chilterns Afternoon
Four hours over the beech woods and back, with afternoon tea in the promenade and a glass of something at the turn.
4 hours
Thursdays and Sundays£640
- II
The Lakeland Overnight
North by the Peak to Windermere, dinner over the fells, a night moored on the lake and home down the Pennines.
2 days, 1 night
Fridays£2,950
- III
The Grand Caledonian
Five days to Skye and back by way of Edinburgh and the Great Glen. The aurora watch runs from September.
5 days, 4 nights
Six departures£9,400
- IV
The Round Britain
The whole circle in nine days. Eight landfalls, one black tie dinner and a certificate signed by the captain.
9 days, 8 nights
First Saturday monthly£16,800
- Private dining in the bow£380 a table
- An hour at the wheel£220
- Sole use of the shipfrom £148,000
- Chauffeur from Bedford stationincluded
AboardHow a day goes
There is a timetable. It is gentle.
- 06:40
Cast off
Coffee on the mast platform while the ground crew walk her out. Then the lines go and the field falls away.
- 08:00
Breakfast
Kippers, eggs and toast in the promenade, with the windows open if the morning allows.
- 11:00
The bridge
Small parties are shown the wheel, the ballast board and the chart table by the officer of the watch.
- 13:00
Lunch
Three courses, timed for the best of the day's landscape. The menu follows the county below.
- 16:00
Tea
Sandwiches, scones and a talk from the navigator about where we are and what you are looking at.
- 19:30
Dinner
In the saloon on B deck. Black tie is welcome and never required. The pianist takes requests.
The small printIn large numbers
The ship in numbers
- 214m
From gilded nose to rudder post
- 72
Guests at most, with a crew of forty-one
- 58kn
Cruising speed, wind permitting
- 2,300ft
Typical height over the country
Halcyon Airship Voyages is a fictional company and this page is a design concept. The ship, prices, routes, people and numbers are invented. Nothing here can be booked and no helium was harmed.
EnquiriesSeason of 2027
Tell us where you would like to drift.
Leave a few details and our voyage office will write back within two working days with dates and a cabin plan.
Received, in a manner of speaking
Thank you. The voyage office has put the kettle on.
This is a design concept, so no enquiry was sent and nothing is booked. If Halcyon were real, a handwritten reply would be on its way.
Contact and opening hours
The voyage office
Shed No. 2, Wrenfield Aerodrome
Wrenfield, Bedfordshire MK99 9ZZ
Hours
- Monday to Friday
- 09:00 to 17:30
- Saturday
- 09:00 to 13:00
- Sunday
- Flying days only
- Shed tours
- Wednesdays at 14:00
Finding us
Fifty minutes from London St Pancras to Bedford, then twelve minutes by our car. Look for the mast. You cannot miss the ship.