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Tour Dates: 22-25 October 2026 

Price Per Person: £815:00

Single Supplement: £200:00 

Hotel: Holiday Inn Express Arras (3 nights)   

TOUR LIMITED TO JUST 20 PEOPLE

The Poets of the Great War

This tour visits the locations where several of the First World War combatant poets fought and will enable participants to understand the contexts out of which their work arose and to celebrate that work. We shall visit sites at Loos, Arras, the Somme and Ypres. We will draw not only on the poetry but also on some of the memoirs, diaries, novels and letters of these poets. The tour will touch on on the war service and writings of Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Edward Thomas, Isaac Rosenberg, Ivor Gurney, Hedd Wyn, Francis Ledwidge, John McCrae, Edmund Blunden, David Jones, William Noel Hodgson, Robert Graves, Roland Leighton, Richard Aldington and Charles Hamilton Sorley.

The tour will be led by the battlefield guide and authority on First World War literature, Vivien Whelpton.

 

Tour inclusive of

  • Pick Ups in Central London,  Ebbsfleet & Dover
  • Excutive 35 seat coach throughout
  • Three night’s bed and breakfast at the three-star Holiday Inn Express, Arras
  • Return crossing by DFDS Ferrys
  • Viv Whelpton as guide throughout
Day One Thursday 22 October 2026
0700 Depart central London by coach
0940 Check in for ferry crossing
1040 Ferry crossing and lunch
1315 Depart Calais
1430 Arrive Loos area for visits including following poets – Robert Graves, Charles Sorley and the
Jack Kipling story
18.00 Arrive Holiday Inn Arras

Day Two Friday 23 October 2026
0900 Depart hotel
0940 Arrive on the Somme for visits including the following poets – Roland Leighton, Siegfried
Sassoon, Robert Graves, Noel Hodgson, David Jones
1340 Lunch at Auchonvillers Tea Rooms
1500 Thiepval Memorial
1545 Further visits including Edmund Blunden, and Wilfred Owen
1730 Depart for hotel
1815 Arrive hotel

Day Three Saturday 24 October
0900 Depart hotel
1030 Arrive in the Ypres Salient for visits including John McCrae, Edmund Blunden, Francis
Ledwidge and Hedd Wyn
1330 Lunch in Ypres
1445 Ivor Gurney Memorial
1530 Tyne Cot Cemetery
1630 Depart for hotel
1815 Arrive hotel

Day Four Sunday 25 October
0900 Depart hotel
0930 Visits in the Arras area including Siegfried Sassoon, Edward Thomas and Isaac Rosenberg
1200 Lunch in Arras
1415 Depart for Calais
1530 Arrive Calais
1635 Depart Calais
1705 Arrive Dover
1930 Arrive central London

 

Please note the maximum group size on this tour is 20 passengers.

Booking

Deposits can be paid via BACS transfer (IBAN if overseas) both account details are on the bottom of the booking form.

If you wish to pay by credit card, drop us an email and we will send you the relevant link.

Cheques can be made payable to “Battle Honours Ltd”