‘A visit to the battlefields of the Somme in northern France is a must for everyone’ says Sophie Shrubsole of Sophie’s Great War Tours. For those who lost family and friends. For those who want to know more about the history of the Great War and its momentous location. And for those who wish to reflect on the past.
Bespoke tour of the Somme battlefields
‘The Somme is my spiritual home’ says Sophie. ‘It’s so peaceful now, yet it holds the deep memories of its war torn past.’ An expert historian and with a vast knowledge of the Somme and of the battlefields, her tours are renowned. Walk in the footsteps of the soldiers of the Great War, and hear their tales, anecdotes and historic facts. It’s the detail that Sophie’s Tours provides that truly brings history alive.
Sophie’s Great War Tours are personal and unique to each visitor. Sophie will research the history of a relative, take you to the places where they were, the battlefields, buildings and tunnels and trenches. You’ll follow their journey which Sophie will put together, researching a range of sources including official records, battalion diaries and local newspapers to discover their story from the past and create a unique journey for you to take.
Your bespoke itinerary will include well known sites and moving memorials in a region where Commonwealth Grave cemeteries pepper the landscape. You’ll visit centres of collective memory such as Frommelles, Thiepval, Villers-Bretonneux, Lochnagar Crater, Arras and many more. ‘Delville Wood is so atmospheric, you can really conjure the images of a hurricane bombardment and the fierce fighting that followed’ says Sophie.
A visit that’s personal to you
You’ll also discover sites that may have meaning for you personally. They may be literally off the beaten track. In a farmer’s fields where the shrapnel can be seen in amongst the crops growing, a copse in the woods, a house in a village. While in Puisieux, not far from the Sheffield Memorial Park, up a narrow farm track, you’ll find battle remnants all around the farm, shells and grenades poking through the surface. It’s this blending of places we have all heard of and discovering the less known, the personal places, hearing the stories from history, that makes these tours so special and moving.
You can include a tour just over the border to Ypres to experience the haunting Menin Gate ceremony, to visit the battlefields and sites, as well as the lovely city. With Sophie’s Great War Tours, it’s all about what you want to see and do.
You’ll be picked up from your accommodation, which the company can also help to arrange. They will also organise restaurants as well as other add ons to make your visit as memorable as possible and exactly what you want it to be. You can include anything from wine tasting to antiquing and more.
These are tours that bring history and the past to life…
Book your unique historical tour at Sophie’s Great War Tours
