BRIDE-TO-BE Kathryn Lang was on cloud nine when her boyfriend popped the question in a hot air balloon.

Romantic Paul Bradley took Kathryn up, up and away to propose a mile above York, Malton and Scarborough.

After he secured her consent, the happy couple floated back to earth, where a bottle of bubbly was waiting for them in a farmer's field.

Paul, 25, of Holgate, York, who had been waiting since his birthday in May to make the life-changing journey, said there was not enough room in the basket to get down on bended knee.

But as Mike Smith, who was in charge of the balloon, told them they were a mile high, he knew it was the right moment.

"I just turned to Kathryn and said: 'I love you, will you marry me?' " he said.

"It brought a tear to Mike's eye and Kathryn was quite weepy.

"We could see Scarborough and the sea out of one side, Hull out of the other and Malton and York below; it was amazing.

"It was very surreal and romantic. Everything looked like a toy town."

Paul decided to propose after Kathryn hinted she would like to go up in a balloon.

"It was either that or proposing during a bungee jump," he said.

"I hadn't realised how nervous she was about going up though, she was shaking. We've chosen April 8, 2006, as a date for the wedding and although I won't be surprising her on the day, I'm planning a surprise for the honeymoon."

The couple, who met in The Gallery nightclub in York almost three years ago, had talked about getting married for some time.

Paul approached Mike Smith, who runs Altair Balloons, based at Westow, near Malton, in May, but had to wait almost a month for the right weather conditions.

Mr Smith said it was the first time anyone had proposed in his balloon.

"We get people wanting to fly on their birthday quite often but it was the first proposal," he said. "I thought it was quite a privilege to be asked to do something like that; it was very romantic."

Updated: 10:03 Monday, July 04, 2005