Beer & Battlefields in the Ardennes

Local departure by coach, then to Belgium for a four-night stay.

We start by looking at the fighting in the Ardennes area in 1940, seeing the sector held by the British Expeditionary Force along the River Dyle in May 1940, and then visiting the Museum of Remembrance May 1940 where we see a superb private collection relating to the fighting here. In the afternoon, we visit the Leffe Experience at the ‘Maison Leffe’, to discover more about one of Belgium’s most famous Trappist beers. Afterwards, we visit a local Brewery, the Brasserie Caracole. Here we have a tour, see how they brew their beer, and have a sample.

Due to ongoing security issues at Florennes – an active military base – it is not currently possible to visit the Spitfire Museum. Instead, we will visit the RAF graves in this area, and the Sherman Tank Memorial to the American Liberation of this part of Belgium in 1944, before continuing to the ‘Hitler Bunker’ in the Ardennes Forest, used by Adolf Hitler as a Headquarters during the Battle of France in 1940. It is now a museum site. In the afternoon we visit the Chimay Experience, where we discover how the Belgian monks brew this beer and have a taste ourselves! Later we travel to the Brasserie des Eaux Vives, a local Ardennes brewery and have a tour and tasting session.

Today we visit the area where the Battle of the Bulge took place in December 1944 close to the town of Bastogne, seeing the woods at Foy where the ‘Band of Brothers’ fought and some of the Tank Turrets that mark the perimeter around the town. We also have time for the superb 101st Airborne Museum. In the afternoon we visit the La Chouffe Brewery. This is one of the most famous of the Ardennes beers and here we have a guided tour with tasting included.

Return home.