Ieper advice please

[tarry]

We are stopping over in ieper on the way back from germany and should have an afternoon to see some of the history there, my wife and i went a couple of years back and went to tynecot cemetory and the surrounding areas, but this time we will have our 12yr son with us so can anybody recommend one or two of the numerous sites in the area you think he would like? any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

cheers tarry

 

[John Armstrong]

You're bound to have some relatives grave / memorial in the area. Brings it all home to see a relatives name in some immaculate CWG cemetry.

 

[Hairnet600]

menin gate

the market in the square if yer there on a saturday

any of the choccy shops worth a visit or the frituur shop

opp the square

cloth hall (if you only walk round the outside.......

theres a waterpark in oostduinkerke

 

[MikeP]

If you only have the afternoon, do the Cloth Hall. Plenty in there for adults and kids alike.

 

[Mide]

Paschendale's not far from Ypres. Well worth a visit!

As Hairnet said, the Menin Gate. It has the names of almost 55,000 soldiers who were lost, ie their bodies were never found, in the First World War.
There is a ceremony every evening at 8pm. It is so moving.

There is a lovely walk from the Menin gate around Ypres on the battlements(big, fat, stonebuilt walls)

It's a lovely town, there is a museum in the main square, can't remember what it's called though.

Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Ypres and surrounding areas and it gave me a new interest in history, especially the World Wars.


Enjoy your trip

 

[stephen.stallebrass]

See here...

 

[AJSmith110]

I took my 12 yr old for 4 days in Somme then two at Ypres earlier this year and he enjoyed just about everything, some particular ones were:

Tyne Cot - he was very moved by this

Passchendale museum - has very good exhibits and splendid cafe

Hooge crater museum was excellent, fantastic collection of shell art and has Belgian version of Alton Towers next to it

Sanctuary wood museum is criticised by many and I can see why, but is great for a 12 year old to explore 'real' trenches

 

[Posh Pete]

If you're there for a pm only, you might be as well to take a minibus trip with one of the battlefield tour guides. For example ...

I think the Cloth Hall Museum may be closed for refurbishment but that's easy to check on t'internet.

Get your lad to do a search on the Commonwealth War Graves Site before you go. Pop in your own surname or that of swmbo's and you'll get plenty of hits in the Ypres area. Even more effective of course if you know of an actual relative who is still over there.


Toc Aitch (Talbot House in Poperinge) is well worth a visit as is the German cemetery at Langemarck although it's a very different experience from visiting a CWG cemetery.

There's the trenches at Sanctuary Wood just outside Ypres. Don't let him buy owt from the slimy f%ckers who run the place but it is a very interesting visit and gets over some aspects of the trench experience.

I've done visits with my school and we always drop our pupils off at the Canuck monument at the top of Paaschendaele ridge and then "march" them down the hill to Tyne Cot. 20 minutes walk with five months and 500 000 plus casualties to move that far in 1917. Makes the point well enough.

Finally, there's Essex Farm Dressing Station There's even likely to be some poppies growing around there so your lad can pick one which is likely to be "related to" the Poppies McCrae wrote his poem about.

If you can stop over for the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate at 20 00 hrs, it rounds the day off very movingly.