For the four long years of the Great War the “Flanders Fields” around the old town of Ypres witnessed the loss of a generation. In defending Ypres from the attacking German war machine a quarter of a million men of the British Empire made the ultimate sacrifice and today lie in “some corner of a foreign field” in one of the 160 battlefield cemeteries which surround Ypres. 

We offer the visitor a chance to walk amidst the poppies of the old battlefields, to see where the troops fought, the appalling conditions in which they lived and the immaculate cemeteries where so many lie buried. Within the few square kilometres that became known as the Ypres Salient the British Army suffered the heaviest losses in it's history. The four years of deadlocked trench warfare slowly created a barren landscape of mud and despair. 

Our tours begin with an introduction that explains why Ypres became the most famous town on the Western Front. We describe the ebb and flow of the fighting and, with wartime photographs, illustrate the almost unbelievable state of the battlefield. Our minibus then takes you slowly through the now peaceful farmland that still echoes from those terrible days as tonnes of live artillery shells are still unearthed every year. 

"Superb! Thank you" Duncan Mclean, Brisbane, Australia 

Standard Tour

Every day from 10.00am to 2.00pm; 35 € Euros per person.  

Our Standard Tour is an in-depth trip through the whole Salient covering every major site. Our first stop is the first aid dressing station where the most famous poem of the war was written. Today in the cemetery that grew up around the dressing station, among hundreds of similar graves, is the last resting place of a 15 year old soldier; a boy who like thousands of others, lied about his age in his eagerness to follow his friends. 

Then we proceed to Langemark where tens of thousands of men lie together in a mass grave in the only German cemetery in the area.  It's a sombre place with stark black headstones and massive oak trees. Solemn, sad, and very moving, it's a place that you never forget.

Afterwards, as we pass through the tranquil countryside, now dotted with dozens of peaceful cemeteries, we cross over the very ground defended so gallantly by the Canadians during the terror of the first gas attack of 1915. Despite being massively outnumbered and subjected to the horrors of the first poison gas attack to be mounted on the Western Front, the Canadians fought off the German attack long enough to allow the British to bring up reinforcements. Ypres was saved, but two thousand Canadians had died. 

Later we will arrive at the village of Passchendaele, a name indelibly carved into the consciousness of the British Commonwealth. For three months in 1917 the Empire forces strove to capture the commanding Passchendaele Ridge from the Germans. The low lying ground below the ridge, poorly drained at the best of times, became an absolute morass as the heaviest bombardment the world had ever seen slammed into the soft ground during weeks of torrential rain. The British and Commonwealth infantry, struggling through the resulting swamp, found themselves attacking impregnable concrete bunkers that sat secure and dry on the higher ground. 

As the rain continued to fall hundreds of men and horses drowned in the mud as the attack relentlessly ground on. Finally, in November, Passchendaele village was finally captured as the attackers reached the crest of the ridge. The cost had been horrific. As the men had stuggled through 5km of appalling mud, against some of the toughest defences of the war, 35 men had died for every metre of the way. No tour of Passchendaele would be complete without a visit to Tyne Cot, the world's largest Commonwealth War Cemetery where 12,000 of these men lie together on the slope where they died. The graves of thousands of Anzacs and Canadians here remind us of the sacrifices made by these fine fighting men so far from home. 

"I've never been so proud to be a Kiwi" Pete Martin, New Zealand

Our tour finishes when we take you back down into Salient to visit the fascinating old museum at Sanctuary Wood where thousands of artefacts and hundreds of original photographs are housed alongside a part of the battlefield that has been completely preserved. Shell holes, shattered trees and mud filled trenches dominate the scene.(admission 4 €). 

"Guide was superb!" Mr & Mrs Clark, Orpington, UK 

How to book? Click here

Short Tour

Every day from 2.30pm to 5.00pm; 28 € Euros per person. 

Our Short Tour visits the infamous Hill 60, a scorched and battered piece of earth where thousands of men fought vicious battles both above and below the surface. Today the ground, eerily silent, is littered with the vestiges of huge mine craters, shell-holes and concrete bunkers. Afterwards we travel to the recently opened Bayernwald trench complex where legend speaks of a German corporal named Adolf Hitler winning his Iron Cross very close by; re-opened only last year, these trenches, (built by the Germans, but later occupied by the British) are a fascinating contrast to those at Sanctuary Wood.

On our return journey to Ypres we visit the vast Bedford House Commonwealth cemetery to pay our respects to over 5000 men from a variety of nations who now lie together in the grounds of what once had been a beautiful chateau, now a sad and poignant pile of rubble.

Both our tours visit Anzac and Canadian sites.

"Chance finding of my great-uncle's grave - what can I say?" Wilf Haibstone  

How to book? Click here

STANDARD TOUR every day from 10.00am to 2.00pm; 35 € Euros per person. 

SHORT TOUR every day from 2.30pm to 5.00pm; 28 € Euros per person.  

Special Discount! Save 5 euros by taking both our tours!

Tours start at our Ypres bookshop, 'The British Grenadier', (The second shop on the left as you walk from Ypres main square towards the Menin Gate Memorial), one minute's walk from the centre of Ypres. 

Payment is possible in all major currencies. British cheques also accepted. Please pay the guide. 

If you have a special interest in finding out where a relative may have fought, please let us know a few weeks beforehand and we will endeavour to locate the right area, and if possible we will be happy to incorporate it into our tour.

Also, as a special service we will be happy to take you to a relative's grave in the area free of charge. 

We reserve the right to alter details without notice. 

"Excellent tour, recommended!" Mr & Mrs Gillat

How to book? Click here