TOURISM ZONNEBEKE GROUP VISITS WWI Tips for Trips - Zonnebeke 1 Table of Contents Discover Zonnebeke Zonnebeke Remembers . p 03 Zonnebeke on the Move . p 15 Day Programmes . p 19 Catering . p 29 Pratical . p 31 Dear visitor, Colophon We welcome you to Zonnebeke! Our fascinating mu- nicipality consists of five traditional villages, each with Editor-in-chief & Coordination: The Zonnebeke Tourist Office their own charm and history. This quirky piece of Mar- itime Flanders, located between Ypres, Roeselare and Photography: Kortrijk, offers a plethora of opportunities for young Zonnebeke Tourist Office, Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917, Westtoer, and old, families, group of friends or colleagues and The Black Watch Association, associations. The landscape is filled with memories of Town of Ypres - Tijl Capoen, the First World War from the Memorial Museum Pass- KLM-MRA, Kris Jacobs Photography, chendaele 1917 to CWGC Tyne Cot Cemetery and the Willy Roets many other sites that commemorate 'the Great War'. Maps: Memorial Museum In this brochure we present our vibrant municipality's Passchendaele 1917 group offers with plenty of options. You can choose Design: your own combinations, depending on whether you Magenta, Brugge have just a few hours, half a day or a full day to visit Printing: our municipality and region. You can also opt for the Cuvelier Graphics, Ieper ready-made walks or a battlefield tour. The Tourist Of- Websites: fice is happy to help you come up with a programme www.toerismezonnebeke.be that will suit both you and your group. www.passchendaele.be © 2018, Zonnebeke Municipal Authority, Langemarkstraat 8, B-8980 Zonnebeke We would like to welcome you to Zonnebeke! The information dates from November 2017, all information might contain errors and modifications. The Zonnebeke Tourist Office 2 Discover Zonnebeke Zonnebeke Remembers Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 ‘Tips and Trips’ - à la carte In Zonnebeke you find yourself in the heart of We are happy to give you any tips and the First World War’s famous Ypres Salient. hints to help you create your own à la ‘Passchendaele’ (Passiondale) symbolises the carte programme for a unique battle- senseless violence of war. field tour. The museum section provides an overview of the five battles of Ypres, including the Battle of Passchendaele. Using historical artefacts, authentic letters, posters and other documents, PRACTICAL INFORMATION ) uniforms of various armies and video clips etc. you get a broad and detailed idea of what life in Berten Pilstraat 5/A • B-8980 Zonnebeke and around the battlefield must have been like. Open: from 1st February until 15th December, The interactive elements throughout the museum daily from 09.00 until 18.00 exhibition ensure that children also get an exciting last entry at 16.30 introduction to this period of history. The visitors’ trail then continues through the unique Dugout Entry: €6.50/adult Experience. Here you can discover how the British €4.00/student were living underground in 1917. An oppressive experience that creates a disconcerting picture Duration: 120 minutes of the miserable and claustrophobic living Tour guide: €60 (max. 25 persons/guide - conditions of the time. The concluding part of max. 3 guides/group) the visit is a faithful reconstruction of German and British trenches along which original shelters have been reconstructed. Get a sense of the The bus driver can drop off and pick up groups frightening feeling that came over the soldiers in the bus parking area of the museum, but he/ when they were ‘trapped’ here. A moving visit she must then park the bus in Roeselarestraat in that will serve to enrich your knowledge of the Zonnebeke. war sites in the area. 3 ZONNEBEKE REMEMBERS Passchendaele Memorial Park The Passchendaele Memorial Gardens are part of Australia, Germany, Canada, New Zealand and the the ‘The Legacy of Passchendaele’ masterplan. United Kingdom are already finished. The Belgian As part of this project, the two parts of the garden is currently in the construction or design Zonnebeke chateau grounds were reunited, phase. among other things. Landscape, recreation and education were the guiding principles behind the design of the park area. The Memorial Gardens PRACTICAL INFORMATION ) are an outstanding result of this. Seven gardens in the shape of a poppy, were planted in the area. Kasteeldomein • B-8980 Zonnebeke The goal is to make them into a remembrance garden for nations that fought in the region Open: daily from sunrise until sunset during the First World War. Every garden will be Entry: free • Duration: 30 minutes designed and built by the participating countries and will consist of three smaller sub-gardens, Tour guide: each dealing with the theme of remembrance. €30 - in combination with a guided tour They were/will be opened one by one between MMP1917 (max. 50 persons/guide) 2014 and 2018. The gardens of the United States, 4 © KLM-MRA, 14308- SI 1072 ZONNEBEKE REMEMBERS Temporary exhibition 1918, The Final Offensive in Flanders The imposing ‘Villa Zonnedaele’ mansion PRAKTISCH ) houses the ‘1918, The Final Offensive in Flanders’ exhibition. This temporary exhibition, which Berten Pilstraat 5/C • B-8980 Zonnebeke consists of 3 parts, tells the story of the last year of the First World War and of the liberation Open: from 21st April until 15th November, in which the Belgian and American troops daily from 10.30 until 17.30 played an important role. The main focus is Entry: free • Duration: 60 minutes particularly on the liberation of Zonnebeke and Passchendaele by the Belgian troops. The other Tour guide: parts of this serial of temporary exhibitions €30 - in combination with a guided tour are based in the touristic centre in Heuvelland MMP1917 (max. 25 persons/guide - (Kemmel) and in the Hippodroom in Waregem. max. 3 guides/group) 5 ZONNEBEKE REMEMBERS CWGC Tyne Cot Cemetery CWGC Tyne Cot Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors come cemetery and the monument were designed by to this place of remembrance. The cemetery is Sir Herbert Baker and inaugurated in 1927. The testament to the extent to which life was lost centrepiece is the visitors’ centre which features a at the Battle of Passchendaele. ‘Tyne Cot’ was panoramic window with a unique view of the old originally a fortified German position on the battlefields. Here you also become acquainted ‘Flandern I’ line where Australian troops later with the history and significance of the cemetery, set up a first aid post in October 1917. Within a the landscape before and after the Battle of short space of time, a small cemetery appeared. Passchendaele and the personal effects of the During the period 1919-1921 the specialised fallen soldiers in 1917. The content of the visitors’ ‘Exhumation Companies’ brought here in total centre was renewed over the winter of 2016-2017. almost 12,000 dead from the surrounding fields. Don’t miss out during your battlefield tour! The wall behind the cemetery lists the names of another 35,000 without a known resting place. These people were mostly from Britain, Ireland PRACTICAL INFORMATION ) and New Zealand. This monument is therefore the sequel to the Menin Gate at Ypres. Both the Tynecotstraat • B-8980 Passchendaele parking: Vijfwegestraat Open: Cemetery: daily from sunrise until sunset Visitors’ Centre: from 1st February until 30th November, daily from 10.00 until 18.00 Entry: free • Duration: 60 minutes Tour guide: €60 (max. 50 persons/guide) 6 ONTDEK ZONNEBEKE -ZONNEBEKE ZONNEBEKE REMEMBERS HERINNERT Polygon Wood Polygon Wood was a military area during the war. On September 26th 1917, the wood was taken by the ANZAC division during which heavy losses were sustained. The CWGC Buttes New British Cemetery can be found in the wood and the monument to the 5th Australian Division stands on the hill. At the edge of the cemetery is the New Zealand Memorial, a special monument to the New Zealanders who went missing in the area in the winter of 1917-1918. The smaller CWGC Polygon Wood Cemetery can be found on the other side of the street. Gordon Highlander John Thompson was buried here in 2004. Entry: free • Duration: 60 minutes Cryer Farm – Clapham Junction In this underground German construction, you will discover a unique medical post with pump room, operation theatre and a waiting room for 50 soldiers. At Clapham Junction there are, among other things, monuments to the Gloucestershire Regiment and the 18th Division. They suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Passchendaele. Both sites are located along the historic road from Menin to Ypres, the Menin Road. Entry: €2.50/adult €1.50/student Duration: 60 minutes Tour guide (obligatory): €60 (max. 50 persons/ guide - max. 1 guide/group) Zandvoorde This charming village is located on the spot where the British cavalry elite fought in 1914. Several monuments such as the stained-glass window in the church, the Household Cavalry Memorial and the CWGC Zantvoorde British Cemetery remind us of this. After this tragic event, Zandvoorde was in the hands of the Germans until the end of the war. An important witness to this is the impressive commando bunker from 1916. Entry: free • Duration: 90 minutes 7 ZONNEBEKE REMEMBERS ’s Graventafel On October 4th 1917, this high terrain was taken by the New Zealanders. The attack broke down in the Ravebeek Valley. On the 9th and 12th of October, the attempts to break through ended in a bloodbath. The deployment of the New Zealanders is commemo- rated by a monument. About 50 metres further on, there is a well-preserved British bunker which is The Road to freely accessible. Passchendaele Entry: free • Duration: 20 minutes In the middle of the 19th century, the first railway connection between Ypres and Roeselare was built, ‘Spoorlijn 64’.