WHEN a purple balloon drifted into the garden of a family in Denmark, little did they know that it had travelled all the way from a school in Sutton-in-Craven.

On Friday, January 23, 60 year one and two children from Sutton-in-Craven Community Primary School each released a helium balloon with a tag attached stating the school name and an individual number.

Year one teacher Suzie Newton said this was done as part of a topic on 'Splendid Skies' and pupils were eager to find out how far their balloons would travel.

Upon release of the balloons, the children shouted out their desired destination, with some saying "London" and others saying "the Moon".

But pupils spoke of their surprise and happiness upon discovering that five-year-old Cole Walker's number 29 balloon had been found in the small town of Odder, Denmark, at 1pm on Friday, January 25.

In a letter to Sutton pupils, nine and seven-year-old brothers Valentin and Caspian Nordskov Munk wrote: "We found your balloon when we were playing out in the snow with our parents. The string was entangled in a tree, and the purple colour attracted our attention."

The two Danish boys calculated the balloon had travelled 875 kilometres from Sutton and were curious to know when it had been released so they could work out how long it had spent on its journey.

"We were hoping for Skipton," said headteacher Fiona Beetles. "We couldn't believe it when we got a letter from Denmark."

The year one pupils also told the Craven Herald that they had all written letters to the Danish boys asking questions about their school, language, parents, pets and weather.

"We hope that this is just the beginning of a very unexpected but very interesting, long distance friendship," said Mrs Newton.