Historial de la Grande Guerrre
This museum retraces the history of the war, its origins and its consequences by examining the parallel histories of France, Germany and Great Britain. It offers a cultural vision of the first world-wide conflict as it was lived by soldiers and civilians. Guided tours are not available, but a comprehensive teaching pack is provided by the museum, which can be used in preparation for the visit as well as during and on your return to the classroom. The packs can be adapted to the group's requirements.
Somme Trench Museum, Albert
Set in underground shelters which were used on numerous occasions to shelter from invaders, Le Musée Somme 1916 portrays in an original setting the life of the soldiers in the trenches during the Somme offensive in 1916. The town of Albert was badly destroyed during the First World War. By 1918, most of the town had been completely desecrated before the British regained control. It was from this town that the doomed offensive on July 1st 1916 was launched. This visit can be incorporated into your guided tour.
Guided tour of the Somme
The remembrance tour will take you on the tracks of the Great War, through the sites and the museums of the region (Musée Somme 1916 / Historial de la Grande Guerre) commemorating one of the bloodiest offensives of the First World War, the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The guided tour of the Somme can be adapted to any group's requirements. Visit La Boisselle's "Lochnagar crater" - a 90-metre diametre landmine crater - the 45-metre high monument of Thiepval to the missing of the Somme, the Newfoundland park of Beaumont-Hamel, Ulster Tower and Vimy Ridge's preserved trenches. Visitors from Welsh schools may also be interested in visiting the Welsh Dragon in Mametz Wood, a memorial to the men of the 38th (Welsh) Division (known as Lloyd George's Welsh Army)
Memorial Museum Passchendaele
The Third battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele 1917, was one of the great conflicts of the First World War. Of the many dead (mostly British, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and South African troops), most lie still undiscovered in Flanders Fields. The Passchendaele Archive at the Memorial Museum Zonnebeke is a living memorial, endeavouring to put faces and stories to the names of those missing by building personal records with photographs, family documentation and information from military sources.
Talbot House
During the First World War, Poperinge was situated a few kilometres behind the turmoil of battle on the Ypres Salient and became home to the British army. In the centre of this lively town, Chaplain Philip Clayton opened a "soldiers' house". The large home of a local family was transformed into "Every Man's Club", where all soldiers were welcome, regardless of rank. For hundreds of thousands of soldiers, this place became 'a home from home', where they found a little bit of humanity, rest and peace. Today, the house and grounds are a museum, with most of the exhibitions taking place in the grounds and out-houses showing displays on the people and the events that took place during the war. There is also an education room available for you to use for your own activities during your visit.
Hill 62/Sanctuary Wood
After the war, the wood was turned into a private museum by the land's owners, who realised at an early stage that the site would be of great interest to pilgrims and tourists. Today, Sanctuary Wood is considered by many to offer the finest preserved trenches on the Western Front. Aside from battlefield artefacts, the interior of the museum offers 3D stereoscopic photographs of highly graphic scenes taken during the war.
Nearby the museum is Sanctuary Wood Cemetery, containing over 2,000 burials. Also close to Sanctuary Wood museum is the Canadian Memorial at Hill 62
Chocolate shop
Belgium is famous for its chocolate making, so it would be a great shame not to include this visit to a family-run chocolaterie for a tour of the shop, a free sample and a talk on the chocolate making process. This short, very well managed visit takes no longer than 20 minutes, which can fit in nicely to your visit to Ypres.
In Flanders Fields Museum
The In Flanders Fields Museum, situated in the Cloth Hall, is a stark and authoritative reminder of the turbulent series of events that took place during WWI. It presents the period in an interactive manner from the perspective of people who lived through the war. Pupils are given the name of a person to research as they move around the exhibition, giving them the chance to see the war through the experiences of soldiers from all over the world, doctors, nurses, journalists, and artists as well as ordinary men, women, and children who lived in Ypres and were unwillingly drawn into the war
Menin Gate
Every evening since 1928, the Last Post has been sounded at 8.00 pm, performed by a team of local buglers under the imposing memorial arches of the Menin Gate. It is inscribed with the names of almost 55,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who died on the Flanders battlefields and who have no grave. This daily tribute serves to honour the memory of the soldiers of the British Empire, who fought and died in Ypres Salient during the First World War. It is a thought-provoking experience, well worth observing with your group.
Ypres Salient Guided Tour
The Flanders Battlefields are the final resting place of thousands who took part in WWI and there are countless monuments, cemeteries, museums and landscapes that pay tribute to those who fought. In order to get the most out of a visit to the Battlefields of Ypres Salient, we strongly recommend a guided tour by coach. The tours can be tailor-made to suit your requirements. The general tour includes the Essex Farm Cemetery, the site where John McCrae wrote his famous poem "In Flanders Fields", the newly restored Yorkshire Trench and the graves of the poets Hedd Wyn and Francis Ledwidge. The visit to Hedd Wyn's grave will be of special interest to Welsh schools. A gifted poet, he won the bardic chair at the Birkenhead Eisteddfod of 1917 - he had been killed six weeks earlier during the battle for Pilckem Ridge, Ypres. A visit to Sanctuary Wood Museum at Hill 62 can be included or visited separately. You can also include a quick stop at Menin Gate for a short explanation of the Last Post ceremony.