WW1
Ypres
Ypres is an ideal venue for your History tour, and you can build on other themes too, such as Literature or Citizenship. It’s an easy drive from Calais port and the famous battle sites and authentic trenches are close to Ypres town. Friendly Belgians all speak English and you can book a local guide or follow your own WST programme.
ACCOMMODATION
Compact Lodge Hotel, Ypres
This modern school hotel just outside Ypres offers comfortable accommodation, with quadruple en-suite rooms for pupils and twins for staff. The hotel has a pleasant garden, meeting room and table-football and for staff comfort there’s a sitting room and bar. A good venue outside town yet handy for your programme.
Menin Gate School Hotel, Ypres
This modern hotel in central Ypres is a great venue, with all your school group’s needs fully considered. Your party will have sole occupancy, with simple en-suite bedrooms, breakfast and packed lunches, large meeting areas, free computer access and local restaurant evening meals. Book early.
Etap Hotel, Lille
You can also choose to stay in France, handy for the battlefields but allowing the possibility of a wider programme. You can link history studies with French culture and language. This comfortable one-star hotel has pleasant en-suite bedrooms and a friendly welcome.
VISITS AND EXCURSIONS
- In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres
- Tyne Cot Memorial
- Hill 62 / Sanctuary Wood, authentic trenches
- Menin Gate - Last Post Ceremony (8 pm only)
- Passchendaele 1917, Memorial Museum
- Platoon Experience - re-enactment day
- Langemark German Cemetery
- Site John MacCrae, dressing station
- Bellewaerde theme park, near Ypres
TYPICAL ITINERARY FOR A 5 DAY TOUR
( Longer or shorter tours are available)
Day One
Daytime coach travel from School, with ferry or Eurotunnel crossing then onward drive to Ypres. If you choose an overnight journey you will have more sightseeing time. Check in to your hotel and have dinner.
OR why not travel overnight on the P & O ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge? You will have dinner and cabin accommodation on board then arrive in Belgium after breakfast to begin a full day of sightseeing.
Day Two
Visit Ypres and In Flanders Fields Museum, with optional hands-on study session. Afternoon visit to Hill 62 / Sanctuary Wood. Evening bowling.
Day Three
Guided tour of battle sites around Ypres, visiting Hill 60, Site John McCrae, Hooge Crater. Tour of Tyne Cot and Langemark cemeteries. Last Post ceremony.
Or take time out with a visit to Bellewaerde theme park or Lille.
Day Four
Full day excursion to the Somme, visiting Vimy Ridge, Historial museum in Peronne, battle sites and tunnels around Albert and Thiepval Memorial.
Or book the Platoon Experience in Passchendaele, actively following a battle day of the 3rd Australian Division.
Day Five
Leave your hotel then enjoy some souvenir shopping in Ypres or Calais. Continue to the check in for your afternoon Channel crossing and onward journey to School.
PRICES: based on a group of 40 students with 5 staff, including travel, full board accommodation, entrance charges, insurance and collective passport:
Cost - on application.
SOMME
The extensive Somme area is full of place names which are famous round the world; Vimy, Albert, Lochnagar Crater, Peronne. Your pupils can discover these places for themselves and they’ll never forget the experience. A Somme visit makes a poignant yet exciting study tour.
Modern interactive exhibitions help pupils learn what happened, and you can explain to your pupils why the Vimy tunnels and Thiepval Memorial have such a revered place in our history. You can balance your programme with sightseeing and cultural experiences in the lovely town of Arras.Include a stop-over on Boulogne’s coast to add supplementary activities such as a chocolate-maker visit and a tour of Nausicaa national sealife centre. Or why not link your Somme visit with a stay in Lille, Rouen or Paris?
ACCOMMODATION
Poppies d’Albert School Hotel
This brand new hotel in Albert is ideally situated for your Somme tour. Your group will have sole occupancy in one of three annexes, with large, simple en-suite bedrooms, meeting rooms for evenings and free internet access. Ideal accommodation for larger groups.
Hotel Mercure Peronne
This three-star hotel is a comfortable base for any visit. It offers 79 rooms, all en-suite, full board with packed lunches, useful meeting rooms available in the evenings and a pleasant restaurant. It has good road links to major battle sites making it ideal for any school trip to this region.
VISITS AND EXCURSIONS
- Vimy Ridge, memorial and trenches
- Beaumont Hamel, battlefield and Nova Scotia Memorial
- Historial, Peronne museum
- Albert, tunnels and museum
- Lochnagar Crater at Boisselle
- Thiepval Memorial and visitors’ centre
- Ulster Tower, Irish memorial
- Delville Wood, South Africa Memorial
TYPICAL ITINERARY FOR A 5 DAY TOUR
( Longer or shorter tours are available)
Day One
Daytime coach travel from School, with ferry or Eurotunnel crossing to France and onward journey. Or choose an overnight journey or a Calais stop-over which will add more sightseeing time.
Day Two
Begin with Lochnagar Crater, created at dawn on 1st July 1917, then tour the Ulster Tower, Thiepval Memorial and Longueval. Afternoon study visit to Historial Museum in Peronne’s modernised castle.
Day Three
Visit Vimy Ridge and tunnels then spend the afternoon at Beaumont Hamel. Tour the vast battlefield then explore the replica Nova Scotia House and moving exhibitions.
Day Four
Full day excursion to Ypres: visit Essex Farm dressing station where John MacCrae wrote “In Flanders Fields”, Langemark German cemetery and the Menin Gate to attend the Last Post ceremony.
Or include a cross-curricular theme with a day visit to Paris or a theme park.
Day Five
Leave your hotel then enjoy some souvenir shopping in Arras or Calais. Continue to the check in for your afternoon Channel crossing and onward journey to School.
PRICES: based on a group of 40 students with 5 staff, including travel, full board accommodation, entrance charges, insurance and collective passport:
Cost - on application