Beer & Battlefields
Join us for a fascinating experience on a new battlefield tour designed by our popular guide Marc Hope. We combine many battlefield sites from both WW1 and WW2 with visits to a selection of the best breweries, many of which were affected by the conflicts and whose beers were drunk by the troops. At each brewery you will have a guided tour and enjoy a sampling of the beers!
Tour Duration 5 Days
Tour Highlights
- Poperinghe
- Talbot House
- Hop Museum
- St Bernardus Brewery
- Hooge Museum
- Dixmude
- Trenches of Death
- Bierkasteel Van Honsebrouck
- Kasematten Brewery
- Brasserie Thiriez French Brewery
- Wormhoudt Massacre Site
- St. Omer
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
Included meals: Breakfast
Included Highlights
Poperinghe
Talbot House
Hop Museum
St Bernardus Brewery
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.
Included meals: Breakfast
Included Highlights
Hooge Museum
Dixmude
Trenches of Death
Bierkasteel Van Honsebrouck
Kasematten Brewery
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.
Included meals: Breakfast
Included Highlights
Brasserie Thiriez French Brewery
Wormhoudt Massacre Site
Day 5
Return home.
Included meals: Breakfast
Tour dates: Various travel dates for this Tour are available contact us on 01422 847 847 or through our Holiday Request Form for more details.