Passchendaele Memorial Museum Zonnebeke

[Bob Chandler]

We're finally getting round to going to the museum next Friday (Good Friday - but we don't think this is a bank holiday in Belgium) and would be interested to hear any comments or observations from recent visitors. How does it compare to Hooge Crater museum, say, or Flanders Fields? Are there cafe facilities on site? Have seen some good reviews but always like to hear the punters' opinions! Cheers

[Mick D]

Charles,

I think it's one of the best museums, the dug out experience is great. There are toilets, cannot recall a cafe though.

Mick

[cockney tone]

Charles,

I think the Museum is well worth a visit and a walk around the lake is very pleasant as well.

Cannot recall a cafe, however if you turn right out of the entrance just on the other side of the road is a grocery shop that has a very nice deli in it where they make take away sandwhichs/snacks etc to order, and they have a microwave to warm their food up if required. If you walk up to the roundabout there is a cafe overlooking it with a couple of old tables outside, when I visited last year they let you take in your own snacks as long as you purchased a drink from them.

Have a great trip.

Regards,

Scottie.

[Seadog]

Simply the best in the Salient, closely followed by Hooge then as a distant third "In Flanders Fields", Ypres. The Dugout Experience is awesome and I still do not understand how they have fitted this into the building!, mind you that is just me no doubt!.

Unmissable.

Norman

[charlotte cardoen-descamps]

Charles,

I can inform you of the fact that a brand new restaurant has been opened last week in the building just next to the museum. You can enjoy a beer on the patio or a meal if you wish. Not the cheapest place around but surely one of the nicest.

enjoy your visit to the museum. I am already sure you wll.

Charlotte

PS: and you are right : good Friday is not a bank holiday in Belgium. Easter Monday is a bank holiday.

[Paul Reed]

Would agree with those who have posted, it is an excellent museum and has led the way in both how items are conserved and how they are displayed. The new cafe will no doubt add to the experience, and some of the other plans they have for extending the museum will be great as and when they happen.

[Mike Cross]

Really good museum to visit; the dugout is especially worth spending some time in. The screen-based gizmos down there are worth exploring too. Loved it.

[bruce]

I have to agree. This is a superb museum, and the dug-out experience is very, very good. I was there last week, and it is fascinating to see how the museum has developed over the years.

There is no cafe, and there is the new place that Charlotte mentions. Almost opposite is also a bar which does food. Howeber, don't try out your French in there....it is the local HQ of the Flemish Independence movement!

Bruce

[stripeyman]

I agree with everything that other pals say about Zonnebeke, very good visual displays, the dugout complex very well done

not at all tacky.

However, there is always an 'however' why do they not reply to an e-mail sent asking about something directly connected

with the small town of Zonnebeke?

A reply saying they cannot help would be OK, but nothing, maybe this is how musems are nowadays, its not the first time........

Bob Grundy

[Sparky]

Personally if you had to visit just one museum in the salient, then I would say this should be it.

In addition to the excellent displays, and I think it gives a good overview of the fighting that took place around Ypres during the war. Perhaps it might be a bit more of a traditional museum than some others I could mention, but if you want something that's both interesting and informative to the enthusiast and the layman alike then this is it.

Mark

[wulsten]

any directions please,

[Bob Chandler]

Well I'm a bit disappointed by the lukewarm comments, not sure if I'm that bothered about going now.....

Seriously though, thanks everyone for your opinions, very much looking forward to the visit, haven't been to the Salient for about a year since I finished my research into the village war memorial (I thought my wife had earned a break), if anyone else is planning to be around Ypres a week Friday it would be great to say hello, just make sure to wear your Forum badge and loiter around somewhere selling alcoholic beverages...... Cheers / dank u wel

[nigelcave]

Just to echo what everyone else seems to be saying: I think that this is an outstanding museum; best suited for small groups, because there is not a huge amount of space and there is so much to look at. One thing I particularly like is that it is not trying to delver a 'message' - just showing you artifacts, illustrations etc in a well ordered way, culminating in the excellent dugout experience. Third Ypres is well covered in a non-hectoring way as well by a good docu-film with a clear narrative, which lasts enough time to get the story across without overdoing it. This is a 'manageable' museum and you shall certainly get your money's worth out of it. Especially handy when the heavens open up (as, alas, they occasionally do in Flanders).

I strongly recommend it to people who want to see a museum in Flanders but do not want to do the whole circuit. All of the museums in the area have their good points, but apart from the problem of big groups, I think this one seems to have ticked all my boxes for what I would hope to find in a Great War museum exhibition.

[Paul Reed]

We take big groups there all the time and have no problems.

[bruce]

I managed 68 14 year old there two weeks ago. There is sufficient there to interest them all. Some of the pupils lingered in one place, others in another. The dugout interested them all.

Bruce

[cockney tone]

Bruce,

in future can you warn us when you are going to be there please!

Regards and best wishes,

Scottie.

[bruce]

May 23rd and July 7th.....so far!

Bruce

[cockney tone]

Bruce,

thank you for letting us know (warning!), they are now in the diary in RED, have a great visit!

Regards,

Scottie.

[Len Trim]

I was there 18 months ago with a fellow WW1 Geek, as I was recently called. I was so impressed that for this year's school trip I have planned a visit rather than go to the normally timetabled In Flanders Field. So 38 school children and 6 members of staff Tuesday 5th May. I am sure that they will all be perfect little darlings

Len

[ralphjd]

any directions please,

Wulsten, On the N332, on the right heading towards Tyne Cot, Dochy Farm Cem about 1-2 miles away. Ralph.

[squirrel]

Their "special" exhibits on the lower floor are well worth the visit as well. Have seen one on the Irish regiments and one on WW1 flyers as well - both excellent.

[Nigel Marshall]

It looks as though Bruce Hubbard was there more recently than I was (2nd week of March), but yes, excellent and well worth a visit. A group of young British soldiers was there when we visited and I'm pretty sure it opened their eyes a little!

See this thread for some recent photos of what you might expect to see there.

Enjoy.

Cheers,

Nigel

[stevew]

I too will recommend it, I wouldn't rate IFF as 3rd though (as montioned in one of the previous posts), I think there are far better than that in The Salient