Self-Drive tours to the Somme & Ypres battlefields of WW1

For the time being we very much regret that we are unable to ship our self-drive guide material to the United States and Australia due to delays being experienced as a result all of customs procedures. We have had several instances where our guide material has taken over two months to be received by clients, which is unacceptable. We are also mindful of the procedures and challenges the US/Australian customs authorities have to address in providing the crucial service they provide. We may however be able to ship your guide material direct to your first hotel if in the UK or Ypres or the Somme, but this solution may not allow you time to pre-read your material to formulate your travel expectations. Please also see our Ypres and Somme itineraries so see whether they fit the agenda you have in mind.

“After spending 6 days touring the battle sites in Belgium and northern France, we cannot praise Battlefield Tours 'package' highly enough - immense detail but easy to follow and customise [with] superb little photo illustrations for the navigator’s assistance. . .The package James provides is truly outstanding and beyond what we could have expected for its detail but practical guidance. . . A really nice chap, providing a brilliant service - what more could you ask for?” Stuart & Sue Greengrass May 2024

A Self-Drive tour where you explore the battlefields in the safety and comfort of your vehicle, at your own pace and able to stop whenever you please to investigate whatever catches your eye, is perhaps the only way to truly explore the battlefields of the Great War. Most importantly of all, you will always have our acclaimed Self-Drive guide at your fingertips to take you on a journey to unraval and reveal the history and legacy of Great War beneath your feet. We are one of the longest-standing companies specialising in small-group tours to the Somme and Ypres battlefields. Having taken over 300 groups on tours to the battlefields of WW1, we have now transferred that expertise to a Self-Drive format so that you can explore these battlefields on your own or with family or friends, without being tied to a coach tour. Unsure? Maybe see what travellers said when they returned! In a nut-shell you chose when you wish to travel and for how long. You take your car and we arrange your hotel accommodation, LeShuttle Channel tunnel crossing and, most importantly of all, we provide you with our acclaimed self-drive Somme and/or Ypres battlefield guides - your ‘window to the past’, including all the directions, maps etc you’ll need. No other self-drive guides have so much detail and are so easy to follow! We can also arrange for a 1:1 personal guide to meet you at your hotel to take you, and just you, to almost any WW1 battlefield on the northern Western Front of France and Belgium.

It’s only when you receive our guide Self-Drive guide pack that you realise just how different and how detailed our self- drive guides are (a comment we receive time after time - see our Trust Pilot reviews and personal testimonials ). From my personal experience, visiting the battlefields of the Great War is quite a moving experience, an experience best appreciated in the company of close friends or family (or alone), without any restrictions such as the rigid timetable of a coach tour dictating the pace. It can be quite frustrating to see the battlefields passing before your eyes without being able to stop wherever and whenever you want to stop, and to explore where you want to explore. The freedom to truly comprehend the impact of the battlefields at your own pace, equipped with your own detailed ‘then and now’ guide(s), is what I always set out to achieve, and perhaps what today sets our tours apart. Rather than me clutter up this page (as I tend to do…), please follow the menu links at the top (left) of the page to find out more about the Self-Drive tours we specialise in organising, so that you just ‘pack and go’ leaving us to make all the arrangements and to provide you with the best Self-Drive guide available. Thank you for visiting our website which we designed and built ourselves, so it’s completely free of all the annoying tracking ‘cookies’, adverts and other nonsense which bedevil us today. James Power 2024 James & Annette Power and Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd (Established 1996) James Power is an Associate Member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides and Western Front Association

The only company to be awarded ‘Best Battlefield Tour’

From Diane Kenwood Editor Women's Weekly It was a profoundly moving and fascinating trip, which, thanks to your stunningly detailed and thorough organisation went without a hitch. . . Your attention to detail is astonishing. . . You really did bring every location to life in the most fantastic way. (I loved your personal remarks dotted through the commentary). It was so marvellous to be able to do everything at our own pace and spend however long, or short, a time as we chose at the places we stopped. Thank you so much for everything - for your help in the early stages sorting out what the best itinerary and approach would be, for organising all the bookings and for the brilliant support packs. I have raved about your company to everyone I've spoken to since my return (and will definitely write about it in the magazine) and I know at least one person who's definitely going to book through you as a result. I hope you get inundated with bookings!

Country Life "If you're fiercely independent, you could do no better than to sign up for the highly acclaimed self-guided tours provided by James Power. His painstakingly researched itineraries are the work of a master logistician"

Battlefield tours - Self-Drive tours to the Somme and Ypres battlefields of the Great War First World War 1914-1918

Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd Wimborne Dorset BH21 1EJ Tel: +44 (0) 7776 195773 or +44 (0) 1202 840520 info@battlefield-tours.com

Site map

The Sunday Telegraph The only Self-Drive company to be nominated ‘Best Battlefield Tour’

Please click the poppy to hear one of the most moving readings of Col John McCrae’s 1915 poem ‘In Flanders Fields’

To speed up your journey through the LeShuttle Channel tunnel car transport service terminals, you must supply your passenger information to Eurotunnel before you travel, using the Advance Passenger Information (API) link to be found in the confirmation email sent to you direct by Eurotunnel when you booked your tour with us. If you have trouble submitting your API, please contact us so that we can arrange for LeShuttle to send you a fresh confirmation email as the API link can only be activated once and may expire if not used . It is therefore advisable to have everyone’s full names and passport details to hand when you submit your API. Your API may also be submitted by phone on LeShuttle’s helpline on 0330 1233207. Here are some helpful links: • Click here to submit your Advanced Passenger Information (‘API’) • Click here for the latest travel and departures updates • Click here for help getting to the LeShuttle terminals (Folkestone and Calais) • Click here for what happens when you arrive at LeShuttle terminals (and FAQs) • Click here to register in advance for Duty Free shopping at the LeShuttle terminals (you must register in advance) • First time travelling with LeShuttle ? Click here for a helpful video following arrival and crossing procedures

You take your car and we arrange everything else - hotels, Channel crossing and all the maps & directions you'll need, as well as our Self-Drive guide(s) to the Somme and/or Ypres battlefields - your 'window to the past'

Example page from Part I (navigational) Ypres guide. You turn to Part II of our guide to learn more about each of the main sections shown on our 'Tour Itineraries' page

Example page from Part I (navigational) Somme guide. You turn to Part II of our guide to learn more about each of the main sections shown on our 'Tour Itineraries' page

some example pages - the battlefield revealed! (click to enlarge)

Welcome to Somme & Ypres Battlefield Tours Ltd Explore the battlefields at your own pace with our acclaimed

Self-Drive tours to the Somme and Ypres battlefields of the Great War 1914-1918

Below are just some of our testimonials - click here to see them all - and our most recent Trust Pilot reviews!

Testimonials

Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd. Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 1EJ, UK. Tel: 07776 195773 or 01202 840520 info@battlefield-tours.com

Full menu

Ypres THE MENIN GATE MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING Restoration and renovation 2023-2025 Please note that the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing will be undergoing extensive renovation/restoration work commencing 17 April 2023 and lasting for about two years. The good news is that the Last Post Ceremony will continue every evening at 8.00 pm immediately adjacent to the grand Memorial – please click here for latest updates. Photo courtesy Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

CLIENTS TRAVELLING BY LeShuttle (formerly known as Eurotunnel Le Shuttle) Submitting your Advanced Passenger Information and other helpful advice

Welcome to Somme & Ypres Battlefield Tours Ltd Explore the battlefields at your own pace with our acclaimed . Self-Drive tours to the Somme and Ypres battlefields of the Great War 1914-1918 (click a poppy…)

It’s only when you receive our guide Self-Drive guide pack that you realise just how different and how detailed our self-drive guides are (a comment we receive time after time - see our Trust Pilot reviews and personal testimonials . From my personal experience, visiting the battlefields of the Great War is quite a moving experience, an experience best appreciated in the company of close friends or family (or alone), without any restrictions such as the rigid timetable of a coach tour dictating the pace. It can be quite frustrating to see the battlefields passing before your eyes without being able to stop wherever and whenever you want to stop, and to explore where you want to explore. The freedom to truly comprehend the impact of the battlefields at your own pace, equipped with your own detailed ‘then and now’ guide(s), is what I always set out to achieve, and perhaps what today sets our tours apart. Rather than me clutter up this page (as I tend to do…), please follow the menu links at the top (left) of the page to find out more about the Self-Drive tours we specialise in organising, so that you just ‘pack and go’ leaving us to make all the arrangements and to provide you with the best Self- Drive guide available. Thank you for visiting our website which we designed and built ourselves so it’s completely free of all the tracking ‘cookies’, adverts and other nonsense. James Power 2024 Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd (Established 1996) James Power is an Associate Member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides and Western Front Association

Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd Wimborne Dorset BH21 1EJ +44 (0) 7776 195773 or +44 (0) 1202 840520 info@battlefield-tours.com

Site map

Click some example pages - the battlefield revealed! (click to enlarge)

A Self-Drive tour where you explore the battlefields in the safety and comfort of your vehicle, at your own pace and able to stop whenever you please to investigate whatever catches your eye, is perhaps the only way to truly explore the battlefields of the Great War. Most importantly of all, you will always have our acclaimed Self-Drive guide at your fingertips to take you on a journey to unraval and reveal the history and legacy of Great War beneath your feet. We are one of the longest-standing companies specialising in small-group tours to the Somme and Ypres battlefields. Having taken over 300 groups on tours to the battlefields of WW1 we have now transferred that expertise to a Self-Drive format so that you can explore these battlefields on your own or with family or friends, without being tied to a coach tour. Unsure? Maybe see what travellers said when they returned! In a nut-shell you chose when you wish to travel and for how long. You take your car and we arrange your hotel accommodation, Channel crossing (LeShuttle) and, most importantly of all, we provide you with our acclaimed self-drive Somme and/or Ypres battlefield guides - your ‘window to the past’, including all the directions, maps etc you’ll need. No other self-drive guides have so much detail and are so easy to follow! We can also arrange for a 1:1 personal guide to meet you at your hotel to take you, and just you, to almost any WW1 battlefield on the northern Western Front of France and Belgium.

We recommend and include LeShuttle (formerly known as Eurotunnel Le Shuttle) the fastest and easiest way to cross the Channel!

CLIENTS TRAVELLING BY LeShuttle (Formerly knownas Eurotunnel Le Shuttle) Submitting your Advanced Passenger Information and other helpful advice To speed up your journey through the Eurotunnel terminals, you must supply your passenger information to Eurotunnel before you travel, using the Advance Passenger Information (API) link to be found in the confirmation email sent to you direct by Eurotunnel when you booked your tour with us. If you have trouble submitting your API, please contact us so that we can arrange for Eurotunnel to send you a fresh confirmation email as the API link can only be activated once and may expire if not used . It is therefore advisable to have everyone’s full names and passport details to hand when you submit your API. Your API may also be submitted by phone on Eurotunnel’s helpline 0330 1233207. Here are some helpful links: • Click here to submit your Advanced Passenger Information (‘API’) • Click here for the latest travel and departures updates • Click here for help getting to the LeShuttle terminals (Folkestone and Calais) • Click here for what happens when you arrive at LeShuttle terminals (and FAQs) • Click here to register in advance for Duty Free shopping at the LeShuttleterminals (you must register in advance) • First time travelling with LeShuttle? Click here for a helpful video following arrival and crossing procedures

For the time being we very much regret that we are unable to ship our self-drive guide material to the United States and Australia due to delays being experienced as a result of customs procedures. We have had several instances where our guide material has taken over two months to be received by clients, which is unacceptable. We are also mindful of the procedures and challenges the US/Australian customs authorities have to address in providing the crucial service they provide. We may however be able to ship your guide material direct to your first hotel if in the UK or Ypres or the Somme, but this solution may not allow you time to pre-read your material to formulate your travel expectations. Please also see our Ypres and Somme itineraries so see whether these fit the agenda you have in mind.