DATE OF VISIT:
Tuesday 23rd April 2024
WHERE DID I STAY?
Kasteelhof ’t Hooghe Hotel, Meenseweg 481, Ypres, (Leper), Belgium. (https://www.hotelkasteelhofthooghe.be/)
This is a very cozy hotel situated just off one of the main roads into Ypres, (leper). Despite being situated in close proximity to a main road, the hotel it is remarkably quiet, with ample parking.
I ate dinner and breakfast in the hotel and both meals which were excellent - from the dinner menu I can certainly recommend the pâté.
If you do not feel like eating in the hotel, then it is only a short drive into Ypres, (leper), where there are many restaurants, some of which are reviewed on Trip Advisor.
COMMENTS
The purpose of my travel to Ypres, (leper), was specifically to visit the Tyne Cot WW1 Cemetery. It is believed that the memorial and cemetery derived its name from a British Army Regiment named the Northumberland Fusiliers, who when they saw the resemblance between the many German concrete pill boxes on the site and the typical Tyneside workers' cottages (Tyne cots), in England, named it Tyne Cot. There is a photograph of one such pill box shown below.
Tyne Cot Cemetery lies on a broad rise in the landscape which overlooks the surrounding countryside.
The Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial, is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), in the world.
It is the final resting place of some 12,000 Commonwealth Servicemen of which some 8,300 remain unidentified. They died in the fighting around Ypres (leper) between 1914 - 1918, but most fell during the Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, in 1917.
Around the eastern boundary of the cemetery stands the Tyne Cot Memorial which bears the names of 35,000 serviceman of United Kingdom and New Zealand almost all of whom died between August 1917 and November 1918 and who have no known grave.
It is estimated that of the 205,000 British Empire servicemen of the First World War, commemorated in Belgium by the CWGC, almost half have no known grave - their bodies were never found or they could not be identified. Many lie under a headstone inscribed "Known Unto God."
Please note that if you are driving to the Memorial, the access and exit roads are very narrow and in many places only the width of a single car. Many coaches also travel to the memorial so be prepared for some deft manoeuvring in very narrow roads.
PLACES TO SEE
- Menin Gate Memorial
- Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate - please be advised that this ceremony has been suspended due to renovation works of the Menin Gate however is due to re-start in May 2024
- Flanders Fields Museum
- Market Square
- Other battlefield sites
Add new comment