Touring Sites in France and Belgium -Advice for English speaking guides?

[Kapast74]

American.  Originally booked a tour group out of UK for a 5-day battlefield site tour in France and Belgium in May 2024.   Leaving from UK and returning back to UK upon completion.  As per the tour company - I am required by travel laws that I must return to UK with our tour group at its completion rather than breaking off from the tour and continuing on into Germany by rail.  So now I will lose the tour deposit as I seek an alternative that is more conducive to our travel plans.  Any advice for me in seeking reputable English speaking tour guides/groups while in country as we will now fly directly into France?  Thank you!

[Michelle Young]

Welcome to the forum. What parts of the battlefields are you interested in visiting? Will you have your own transport, and where will you be based? 

[Kapast74]

Butte De Warlencourt, Thiepval Memorial and rest of Somme. Marne, Ypres, Verdun, Lochnager crater

[Kapast74]

1 hour ago, Michelle Young said:

Welcome to the forum. What parts of the battlefields are you interested in visiting? Will you have your own transport, and where will you be based? 

Butte De Warlencourt, Thiepval memorial and Somme, in general. Marne, Ypres, Verdun, Lochnager crater

[Michelle Young]

The Marne and Verdun are quite a way from the Somme. Are you planning on driving down there? How long have you got over in France? I can think of guides for the Salient and the Somme, but without a bit more information, it’s difficult to give recommendations. 

[Kapast74]

9 minutes ago, Michelle Young said:

The Marne and Verdun are quite a way from the Somme. Are you planning on driving down there? How long have you got over in France? I can think of guides for the Salient and the Somme, but without a bit more information, it’s difficult to give recommendations. 

Thank you for Michelle for responding.  How very kind of you to help us Great War rookies navigate our trip.    This trip was at the request of my son, so I am not sure what his definitive plans are   at this time.  I will seek some clarity on this matter and then get back to you.  We were planning on renting an auto for our trip then acquire a guide at each location.  If several locations are reasonably close to one another then we could use the same guide.  For Verdun then, of course, we would use a different guide.   We are open to jumping aboard a tour group if feasible rather than a private guide.  

[Chesterboy]

There is Genevra Charsley who you find on Twitter and Facebook 

also Nigel Marshall on Facebook 

 

[Michelle Young]

Great minds Chesterboy. 
Genevra is Flanders Battlefields Tours ideal for the salient 

@Nigel Marshall for the Somme 

@Christina Holstein for Verdun 

[Nigel Marshall]

Thanks for the shout, Michelle & Chesterboy.

Kapast74, I've sent you a message.

Cheers,

Nigel

Edited 13 November , 2023 by Nigel Marshall

[healdav]

On 06/11/2023 at 19:26, Kapast74 said:

Thank you for Michelle for responding.  How very kind of you to help us Great War rookies navigate our trip.    This trip was at the request of my son, so I am not sure what his definitive plans are   at this time.  I will seek some clarity on this matter and then get back to you.  We were planning on renting an auto for our trip then acquire a guide at each location.  If several locations are reasonably close to one another then we could use the same guide.  For Verdun then, of course, we would use a different guide.   We are open to jumping aboard a tour group if feasible rather than a private guide.  

For the Verdun area, send me a PM.