It’s taking people 1 minute 14 seconds to find the hidden hot air balloon in this summery beach scene - How long does it take you?

The smell of barbecues is in the air, the sun is doing its level best to shine and it’ll soon be time to start heading down to the seaside for a bracing dip in the waves. Pack your sun cream, towel and your biggest, darkest sunglasses and get ready for sand in your sandals and freckles on your skin.

In celebration of the arrival of summer, The Big Domain has come up with a lighthearted summer brainteaser that takes a surprisingly long time for the average person to solve.

The illustration shows a beach inundated with inflatable beach balls - but hidden among them is a colourful hot air balloon. The story is that Lucy and her friend have come to the beach for a day, but while they were buying a beach ball from salesman Derek, his van doors burst open leaving hundreds of the inflatable spheres to cascade out across the beach.

Scour the sand - which is entirely covered with beach balls in orange, yellow and pink - and see if you can find the missing hot air balloon. That way the girls can end their beach day with a spectacular balloon ride along the coast.
Jo Price from Big Domain says: “We all loved this brainteaser, it’s much harder than it looks. I thought I’d solve it in seconds but it left me pretty baffled for a while longer!”

As for the summer theme of the head-scratching puzzle, Jo said: “We wanted to put our customers into the summer spirit by getting them thinking about where they’d like to play catch with a beach ball (or ride a hot air balloon) during this year’s summer holiday.”

About Big Domain

Part of the Travel Chapter group, Big Domain specialises in letting high-quality accommodation across the UK and Europe sleeping over 8 people; perfect for family reunions, weddings, birthdays, hen parties and corporate events.

Notes to editor:
- Big Domain was established in 2003 and was the first website dedicated exclusively to big properties for hire.
- The Big Domain features over 650 large houses in the UK and Europe.
- A media pack containing illustrations, quotes and press release can be found here

Media contact:
For media enquiries please contact: Maria Hughes at mhughes@resignal.com or on +44 (0) 20 7242 0142