Please read this bit first - it will only take a minute or so but worth the time. . .
 

As you may already have found, there are many companies offering battlefield tours, especially at the centenary of the Great War in 2014.  Our tours however are quite different.  Our tours allow you to reveal the hidden history of the battlefields at your own pace, at a time of your choosing, and for you and just you.  We are also one of the very few fully registered UK battlefield tour companies who have been established for over 17 years and who specialise in the Great War (Western Front) and nothing else.  We are also the only self-drive tour company to have received so many national press awards and recommendations, including Vanity Fair's much coveted ‘Best Guided Tour' award and  as recently featured in the prestigious 'Country Life' magazine - see below for more!

Our Self-Drive tour 'package' is just that.  It includes your hotel accommodation and Channel crossing (for UK travellers) and, most importantly of all, our unique Self-Drive battlefield guides, maps, plans, directions etc all dovetailed together by us, so all you have to do is just pack and go - we make it as simple as that!  Please note that our Self-Drive guides are are only available as part of a 'package' comprising hotel accommodation, and that our private 1:1 guiding option is only possible when booking a Self-Drive tour.

You may be unsure as to whether a self-drive tour is for you. Our best advice is to have a closer look at our many testimonials to see what people like you have said after they returned from a self-drive tour (see left - or click here for all). Unlike some companies, we don’t just cherry-pick the letters we want you to read. The testimonials you see on our website are exactly as we received them.

Our acclaimed Self-Drive Tours
Click here to jump straight to our Self-Drive tours page or click for a quick look at our guide to exploring the Somme and Ypres battlefields, including the self-drive tour itineraries.

People who wish to visit the battlefields of the Great War quite often think first of a conducted tour.  However, for those truly seeking to reveal the legacy of the Great War, nothing can beat the freedom of exploring the battlefields without the rigid timetable of a coach/minibus group dictating the pace.  How frustrating must it be to see the battlefields passing before your very own eyes without being able to stop wherever you want to stop, for however long you want to spend, exploring what you want to explore.  The freedom to explore the battlefields at your own pace is what I always wanted, and what today sets our tours apart.

If you intend visiting the battlefield you need to be well briefed. Many visitors just turn up thinking that all will be clear, which will certainly not be the case.  This is where our Self-Drive guide expertise comes in to play, expertise based on having personally conducted over 250 small-group battlefield tours. Our written guides are not just any old collection of briefing notes, copied books or cobbled together maps as offered by some companies.   Our self-drive battlefield guides are professionally produced comprising two parts, so separating navigation from the main guide. The navigation section even includes a photo of every junction you'll encounter with clear overlaid pointers.  It's written as if we are in the car with you.

Our guides are regularly updated fully bound A4 colour guides which have been carefully designed to take you on a journey of exploration, so you know exactly where to drive, where to stop, where to walk and, most importantly of all, what to look for. Our guides are only available to those booking a tour with us and so not available from shops. It is this  essential combination of comparative 'then and now' maps, photos and narratives that have made our Self-Drive guides so appealing, especially to the independent traveller seeking to explore the past in greater detail.

If you have in mind to book one of our tours for 2014 then please do so ASAP as our hotels only have limited accommodation and demand will be high

In addition to our Self-Drive tours, we can easily arrange for an English speaking guide to pick you up at the hotel we book for you and take you on a one or two day personal tour of the battlefield. This is a truly personal service and as such you will  be just in the company of our experienced guide and not other members of the public. This service is particularly popular with visitors from Australia, New Zealand and Canada who may already be in France and who wish to focus on specific battlefields where their fellow countrymen served.

To find out more about our Self-Drive tours please click here.

We accept payment by credit and debit card and are fully compliant with the strict security requirements imposed by all leading credit card companies.

See 'Contact Us' for more about us
(we are based in Wimborne, Dorset, England)

   James Power 
.
about me.
A  member of the
Guild of Battlefield Guides

and

Western Front Association