Beer & Battlefields
- Duration: 5 days
- Board Basis: Bed & Breakfast
- Tour Ref: D2TLEGBBB
Holiday Summary
- Travel Type: Coach
PLEASE NOTE: Price is per person and based on two people sharing a twin/double room. Single room supplements and upgrades are not included.
Itinerary
Day 1
Local departure by coach, then to Ypres for a four-night stay. Your guide will discuss some beer recommendations en-route, together with running through the itinerary.
Day 2 - Poperinghe; Hop Museum & St. Bernardus Brewery
Today we look at life behind the front and discuss the famous estaminets where soldiers got to drink the local beer themselves during the war. In Poperinghe we visit Talbot House and their Behind the Lines museum. We also look at the subject of those ‘Shot at Dawn’ and visit the Death Cells. Lunchtime in Poperinghe followed by a visit to the Hop Museum to look at the whole history of this in the Flanders region, and enjoy a tasting of a Hommelbier. We then move on to see the St. Bernardus Brewery at Watou near Poperinghe, a village where soldiers were billeted in WW1
Meals - Breakfast
Day 3 - Trenches of Death & Hooge
This morning we start at the Bierkasteel Van Honsebrouck at Kortrijk, then travel up to Diksmuide to see where the Belgium Army was fighting during the Great War and see the fascinating Trenches of Death which snaked along the Yser Canal: a place where two armies opposed each other over a short stretch of water. After lunch at Hooge Crater Café, with time to explore the museum, we then go into Ypres and visit the Kasematten Brewery in the ramparts close to where the Wipers Times was published in 1916.
Meals - Breakfast
Day 4 - Retreat To Dunkirk; Brasserie Thiriez
We spend today looking at the Battle of Flanders in 1940 and the Retreat to Dunkirk following the fortunes of the British Expeditionary Force, including the Wormhoudt Massacre site. After lunch at St. Omer we visit the Brasserie Thiriez in Esquelbecq, a French brewery frequented in the ‘phoney war’ by British Troops.
Meals - Breakfast
Day 5
Return home.
Meals - Breakfast
Accommodation
You will stay for four nights at the 3-star Novotel Ypres. This excellent hotel is located in the heart of historic town of Ypres, only a couple of minutes-walk from the Menin Gate Memorial, where the 'Last Post' is sounded every evening. The hotel is a firm favourite within Leger’s Battlefields programme and makes the ideal base for exploring the rich military heritage of the area. The hotel has a small bar area and restaurant.