Flanders for groups 2022/2023

Flanders For Groups

All of Europe animated in miniature!

Be amazed !

Mini-Europe is a park situated at the gates of Brussels featuring all the wonders of Europe in miniature Bonsai trees, flowery groves and dwarf trees embellish the monuments which have been meticulously reproduced in the finest detail

Spectacular !

A two-hour walk, that is both entertaining and educational, to learn about the member states of the European Union and the historical, architectural and cultural wealth of Europe

Fun !

A trip full of surprises Destroy a section of the Berlin wall, set off the eruption of the Vesuvius, launch an attack of legionnaires or scare the Vikings Depending on what you fancy, operate the many interactive live action animations to (re)discover Europe as you ’ ve never done before

All of Europe animated in miniature!

Fascinating !

Have fun whilst learning! Behind the captivating universe of the miniature monuments, the dramatization and live action animations relive our surprising common history with its values and heritage! From the origins of democracy to the enterprising spirit, from our Greek, Roman or Viking heritage to the political transformations of the 21st century, you will find commentary at every stage of the journey in the free catalogue that is teeming with information and anecdotes that will delight all children, inquisitives and history fanatics

Unrivalled quality of artistry.

The park exhibits more than 350 monuments which were selected for their architectural quality and their European symbolism They are reproduced to the finest detail Many statues of the GrandPlace of Brussels are painted with real gold leaves The Big Ben is 4 meters tall At 13 meters, the Eiffel Tower is taller than a 3-storey building Yet, all the buildings are on a scale of 1/25

The Trevi Fountain

Foreword

From Andrew Daines, Director (UK and Ireland) for Visit Flanders

two years when ives were ewhat curtailed to the Covid ndemic, it feels citing and vigorating to be riting once gain about group travel

For many of us, being able to travel and discover new places and different cultures –and to share these experiences with other like-minded people – is an essential part of who we are It is also the case that when tourism is done well – when visitors integrate with communities in destinations, when the y share passions and interests, then the visitor, effectively, becomes part of the communit y. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Flanders Fields, the area in the west of the Flemish region of Belgium, where many of the fiercest battles of the First World War took place, and where the scars of this conflict survive to the present day.

Group tours to Flanders Fields began even before the end of the First World War, and the residents of this area have ever since been welcoming visitors wishing to pay their respects, to commemorate, and learn from these events. The two- year hiatus, without the many passionate visitors from the UK and other Commonwealth nations was tough; gardeners maintained the hundreds of Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries as meticulously as ever, the buglers of the Last Post Association per formed the daily ceremony

reacquaint myself with the museums and sights, cafés and bars, but to feel the huge welcome from the whole communit y – from the hotel rece ption, to the restaurants, and not least, to the wonder ful tour guides who were so obviously happy to be sharing their knowledge and stories again – in English!

Of course, whilst the visitors have been away, this period has been put to good use, and much has been undertaken to renovate and improve, such as at the Passchendaele Museum and the Hooge Crater Museum, as well as at many of the hotels in the area Elsewhere in Flanders, there has been extensive development work too, not least in the cit y of Antwer p. In Se ptember, after over 11 years, the region’s flagship art galler y, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA) will finally reopen their doors, with an award-winning , and genuinely stunning , architectural design to display the largest and most important collection of art in Flanders. This further adds to the region’s offer for the culture seeker that also includes the new Mystic Lamb Visitor Centre at St Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, allowing visitors to take an augmented realit y tour of the 16th centur y world of Jan van Eyck, and to inspect the intricate detail of his magnificent 12 panel altar piece. The tour ends with the opportunit y to witness the original work, in its original home, just as people were able to do when it was unveiled in 1532.

Across the region, our stunning cities are looking even more special, with so much to see and experience, and I can also attest that, when you ’ re back in Flanders, our local food and drink will taste even more ous too! Flanders looks forward to the n of groups from the UK , with a me warmer than ever.

Sales Hugh Cairns and Brett Kirby

Tel: 0121 445 6961 Production: Laura

Collins

Design: Alexina Whittaker

Beau Business Media Group Ltd Publishing House, Windrush, Ash Lane, Birmingham, B48 7TS Tel: 0121 445 6961 e-mail: beaubusinessmedia@gmail.com

Fl ande rs

for this year ’ s edition, the Guide To Flanders

L ike most people, the pesky pandemic put paid to any overseas travel plans I had for most of 2020 and 2021, in March this year, howe ver, I dusted down my passport and went on a short jaunt over to Flanders. In many ways this was a fitting return to foreig n travel, as I have visited the reg ion on many, many occasions and know this most accessible part of Europe rather well The trip came as a result of an invite from the kind folks at the London office of Tourism Flanders and I needed no second invitation. Flanders is only a 90 minutes coach drive from Calais or Dunkirk, is easy to g et to and offers so much to visitors, especially, those from the United King dom

Ever y where you g o the words, Welkom in V laanderen, will g reet you, except, that’s not strictly true as prett y much e ver yone under the ag e 60 speaks Eng lish and as the ag e lowers the more proficient the le vel of biling ualism becomes the young , in particular, converse in Eng lish for fun, so it’s more likely to be Welcome to Flanders !

The g enesis for this slig htly truncated edition of the Guide To Flanders For UK Groups (now in its 18th year) came during the aforementioned trip and there were three main reasons. Firstly, it is clear that UK g roup travel org anisers and coach operators are keen to g et their g roups back to Flanders. The second is how keen Flanders based attractions and hotels are to welcome UK g roups back, whilst the third driver is a little more personal. A fellow traveller on the three-day educational trip works for a g roup tour operator and this was her first trip to Flanders, as such, e ver ything was new to herthis g

ot me thinking

As nearly 20 years have elapsed since the first edition of the g uide, there will be many new faces within the g roup travel industr y who have not been to Flanders or know little about the reg ion. With these people in mind,

For UK Groups will g o a little back to basics and g ive readers more of an introduction to the reg ion and sug g est attractions & accommodation providers that will most definitely have g roup appeal. In land mass, think of a slig htly enlarg ed Yorkshire and you ’ re about there, i e it’s ideal for a short break or, say, a week’s tour Aside, perhaps, from France, those g roups with an interest or passion for the Great War will find more historical landmarks and sites in Flanders than in any other European countr y Only those with a heart of stone could not be moved by the intensely moving experience of hearing the Last Post e ver y e vening under the Menin Gate in Ypres. A stroll among st the headstones at Tynecot Cemetar y affords time for reflection and to consider the futilit y of a war when human life was horrendously expendable L ikewise, the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 where your g roup will experience life in dug outs and trenches is hug ely thoug ht provoking

Flanders is not just about WWI, of course, and UK g roups can ‘lig hten’ the experience by visting one of the many other attractions which are keen to welcome them. The coastline of Flanders is, as you would expect, reminiscent of Eng land’s east coast and resorts such as Blankenberg e, De Panne, and Ostend offer seaside charm to match anything this side of the North Sea The cit y of Brug es holds it own ag ainst other on planet earth, Ant werp hosts many attractions and museums, the mag nificent St Rumbold’s cathedral in Mechelen, Ghent with its medie val architecture are just some of the reasons to visit the reg ion

Br ussels

For those g roups looking for the perfect cit ybreak, Brussels is usually hig h on the list not least as it can be reached easily by aeroplane, coach or, my favourite, Eurostar With so many attractions rang ing from the culturally hig hbrow to the more prosaic there is so much to see and do over, say, a t wo nig ht/three day mini-break or as part of a big g er tour of Flanders. The architecturlly

Hugh Cairns looks at what makes Flanders so special to him

stunning Grand Place or Grote Markt with its Baroque Guildhalls offers a g reat ‘photo -opportunit y ’ . Also ( but don’t mention it to Mr Farag e !) , the Parlamentarium or the European Parliament Visitors’ Centre is a fascinating insig ht into the working s of this political behemoth A long -time favourite Brussels attraction is Mini-Europe, a stone ’ s throw away from one of the capital’s most well-known sites, The Atomium

If your g roup hasn’t been to Mini-Europe before, do tr y to include it in your next itinerar y - if for no other reason than that it will bring out the child in all of them, irrespective of ag e. A t wohour walk around Mini-Europe is both entertaining and educational and g roups can learn about the member states of the European Union and the United King dom, their historical, architectural and cultural wealth There’s live action, too, as your g roup could ‘destroy ’ a section of the Berlin wall, set off the eruption of the Vesuvius, launch an attack of

leg ionnaires or scare the Viking s. There’s also many interactive live action animations, from the Bells of Stockholm to the Windmills at Kinderdijk it’s a chance to ‘(re)discover Europe as the y possibly mig ht not have done before’

With reg ards to facts and fig ures, Mini-Europe exhibits more than 350 monuments and animations which were selected for their architectural qualit y and their European symbolism The y are reproduced to the finest detail. The Cathedral of Santiag o de Compostela alone required 24.000 hours of work . Many statues of the GrandPlace of Brussels are painted with real g old leaves. In the Se ville arena , 6.000 fig urines were placed, one by one, to attend the bullfig ht The Big Ben is 4 meters tall. At 13 meters, the Eiffel Tower is taller than a 3-store y building . Yet, all the building s are on a scale of 1/25 If you would like a more bespoke packag e for your g roup, a personalised g uided tour is available and you can book a visit with a professional g uide, who will

tailor the approach of the visit and the commentar y according to your g roup ’ s interests – booking is essential. With a seating capacit y of 250, MiniEurope’s restaurant is the big g est in the Bruparck and usually offer a menu to any g roup ’ s taste and budg et Groups with a minimum of 20 persons can enjoy a meal choosing one of the following options : a) The self-ser vice option where your g roup can enjoy a warm snack or drink or b) Special menus for g roups upon reser vation only.

Brussels is, of course, not the big g est of capital cities and many other attractions can be found close by. As such, UK g roup visitors are encourag ed to combine a trip to MiniEurope with any of the many other attractions on its doorstep ; The Atomium, Brewer y Timmermans, Planète Chocolat ! or Trainworld – just to name a few www. minieurope.com/en/ practical/group -rates/

Trainworld

For obvious reasons, perhaps,

we in the United King dom have a love affair with the railways and railway based attractions are always popular with the g roups market. Train World is the official museum of the National R ailway Company of Belg ium and is based in the preser ved building s of Schaarbeek railway station and a hang ar built to its north Based in the ‘heart’ of Europe it lies on the route of Belg ium’s first train track, bet ween Brussels and Mechelen The station, is a fine example of Belg ian railway architecture and is connected to the new (opened in 2015) hang ar by the railway g arden.

The histor y of the Belg ian railways collection beg ins in the early days of the 1830s, where, following the lead of their Eng lish counterparts, Belg ium looked to establish a railway ser vice The theme is broug ht up to date with the advent of Eurostar, where it is possible to travel from Brussels to London in only t wo hours

UK g roups are particularly welcome at Trainworld and a special g roup prog ramme can offer ; a thematic g uided visit

WHEN MEMORIES START TO FAD WHEN FADE , IN FL ANDERS FIELDS MUSEUM KEEPS IT ALL IN FOCUS.

Only the scars in the l andscape remain The l ast echoes of WWI seem to have quietly died away When memories start to fade, it is vital, more than ever, to keep it all in focus This is what In Fl anders Fields Museum sets out to do, year after fading year.

U P DAT E D E X P E R I E N C E.

Discover fresh exhibits and install ations, new movies and objects, and even more profound personal stories Choose the new audio guide with more in-depth insights for grown-ups or the child-friendly version

the temporar y exhibition, Royals & Trains, a g uided visit of the permanent collection and/or a mixed g uided visit of both The tour takes around t wo hours, the exhbition lasts until Januar y 23 and numbers per tour must not exceed 20 A popular visit for g roups is the one-day prog ramme, where lunch can be taken at the brasserie, RN Express and packag es are available prett y much e ver y day except December 25th and Januar y 1st

The Trainworld shop offers souvenirs of a visit starting at only €1 and there are also the usual items such as books, posters and stamps etc A Trainworld audio g uide App can be downloaded which

g ives access to complete content Group rates beg in for 15+ people and further information can be found at www.trainworld.be

As mentioned earlier in the g uide, one is ne ver far away from reminders of the Great War and out of posthumous respect to all of those who fell, perhaps it is best not to attach the label, ‘attraction’, to those sites which commemorate four of the darkest years in world histor y. A journe y to the reg ion wouldn’t be complete without paying homag e to one of those sites and here are some sug g estions

A trip to Flanders should

include a visit to the cit y of Ieper/Ypres and its environs, as there is so much on offer and an ideal starting point is the In Flanders Fields Museum.

" Their name liveth for e vermore ' are the biblical words the famous writer Rudyard Kipling selected for Sir Edwin Lut yens ' Stone of Remembrance But can we commemorate for e vermore ? Walking throug h the landscape of Flanders Fields, you ine vitably come across the militar y cemeteries of the First World War More than 100 years after the armistice and long after the persons who knew the fallen personally have passed away, the numerous war g raves

remain as last witnesses In the temporar y exhibition "For Evermore" (29/04/202318/02/2024), the In Flanders Fields Museum pays attention to the creation and e volution of the commemorative landscape but why do we commemorate the war primarily throug h its dead ?

Despite the unpreparedness of the various powers at the outbreak of the war for the larg e number of war dead, there was an unprecedented massive use of individual burials It led to the creation of numerous field g raves and cemeteries in the war landscape. Althoug h se veral org anisations, such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, were

Welcome at Peace Village

Where to find us?

Messines, Belgium's smallest city, is steeped in history. Less than 10 km (15 minutes by car) from Ypres or the French border and with a view over the former battlefields, peaceful views are everywhere.

Facilities

The Peace Village also houses a restaurant, several meeting rooms and a conference room for large events. All in all, ideally equipped for schools, youth groups or business conferences. In the evening, we can recommend you to try a local ale in our bar with game facilities and live sports.

Activities at Peace Village

Besides our two football pitches, the facilities also include a netball field, pingpong, pool table and table football. Campfires and karaoke are possible after reservation. Our local guides are happy to tailor your itinerary and in Flanders Fields, the cycling paradise is never far away.

established, the concentration of these field g raves and e ven smaller cemeteries was necessar y. The exhibition hig hlig hts, among other thing s, the (chang ing ) locations of cemeteries, the processes of concentration and the often forg otten mobilit y of the bodies that this entailed.

Moreover, the exhibition g ives a prominent place to multivocalit y, a core value of the In Flanders Fields Museum It raises the question of who is less or e ven not visible at all in the contemporar y commemorative landscape, such as civilians, black fallen soldiers, those shot at dawn and non-European ser vicemen. In addition, the exhibition shows how contemporar y commemorative tourism came into being and tells the stor y of the pilg rimag es undertaken after the armistice by family members and veterans, among others

The exhibition introduces you to a number of hidden g ems in the landscape of Flanders Fields and the emotional stories that these places hold. Despite the uniform appearance of the cemeteries, both a unique histor y and the personal st yle of the architect responsible characterize each cemeter y.

"For Evermore" is the ideal starting point to discover the commemorative landscape of Flanders Fields with a backpack full of stories in the framework of the 2023-theme year ‘ The stories of the landscape !’ Furthermore, the additional podcast and the For Evermore app create an enhanced emotional experience in the former war landscape. More ( practical ) information about a g roup visit to the museum and the landscape of Flanders Fields

can be found on the website www.inflandersfields.be

In Fl anders Fields Museum. The focus of the Museum is on the human war experience, presenting hundreds of authentic objects and images in an experience-orientated setting..

by side during the First World War

Whilst Ypres offers many hotels for visiting g roups, an alternative can be found just a few miles away at the Peace Village in rural Messines and it’s a g ood base for exploring Flanders Fields and the Ypres Salient The hostel overlooks the Messines ridg e battlefield of Belg ium's smallest cit y with landmarks such as the Island of Ireland Peace Park and the New Z ealand Memorial to the Missing The Hostel can accommodate both medium size and larg e g roups. It can welcome up to 165 g uests in 43 studios, each with their own living and sleeping area and en-suite facilities. The histor y of the Peace Villag e starts with the inaug uration of the Island of Ireland Peace Park in Messines. The memorial was officially opened on 11 November 1998 in the presence of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, Irish President McAleese and King of the Belg ians Albert II Another reason for founding the Peace Villag e Hostel was the presence of the 'International School for Peace Studies' which opened its doors in Messines in 2001 The g oal was to bring Irish young sters from different backg rounds tog ether and talk about who their g randfathers foug ht side

On site facilities include a restaurant and bar and the food ser ved is healthy and sourced locally The bar & restaurant each have a terrace overlooking the landscape and the hostel is surrounded by a larg e g reen area , ideal for playing or rela xing - each g roup is also issued with an free sports cupboard on arrival which contains all the required equipment for a fun day on the g rounds About 400 meters from the hostel, a second football pitch (Flanders Peace Field ), a playg round and a petanque lane can be found. The nearest ski & adventure park is 2 km away and the nearest swimming pool about 10 km. Group rates apply for 15+ people and a few weeks before your g roup ’ s stay, you will be sent an e-mail with an over view of which rooms the y have allocated your g roup to. Throug h the rooming list, you can check the t ype of rooms as well as the number of beds per room

The hostel has a larg e private parking for se veral cars and coaches. For detailed information visit www.peacevillage.be

And finally...beer !

Beer and breweries are e ver y where in Flanders –whether a multi-national g iant such as Inbe v (think Leffe, Stella) or a smaller affair such as St Bernardus – this hoppy nectar is ubuiqitous. At Café Mort Subite (translate it, if you dare !) in Brussels the y claim to have around 2000 beers on offer !

Breweries are always make for a g reat g roup visit and the tasting at the end of tour affords the opportunit y to g et to know e ver yone in the

g roup a little better.. a word of caution, thoug h, from someone who has done it...Belg ian beer can be much, much strong er than its UK counterpart !

At Bourg og ne des Flandres in Brug g e, g roups can find out more about hops and the brewing process, learn how to tap beer dig itally and take a bottle with your picture on it back home Of course, at the end of the tour you will g et a free Bourg og ne des Flandres and enjoy a wonderful view of the Brug es canals

www.anthonymar tin.be/en/

For accommodation, all of the usual international hotel chains have sites throug hout Flanders as well as smaller and privately owned hotels which may offer a little more character and charm. Getting to Flanders could not be easier with three ferr y providers, the train operators Eurotunnel/Eurostar and countless airlines offering flig hts to Brussels. For those travelling by coach, let your local coach operator or tour wholesaler org anise thing s for you.

B

raft brewer y honours Flemish tradition in the heart of the Venice of the north: Bruges

Bourg ogne des Flandres is a Flemish Red beer, a renowned Belg ian beer st yle e beer has a low alcohol content, a dark colour and a complex flavour Indeed, on top of its t ypical fruit y character, Bourg ogne des Flandres also has a sour character is makes it a surprising ly refreshing beer that also tastes sweet, rich and fruit y at the same time. "Bourg ogne des Flandres is a t ypical example of the Flemish cut beer tradition where old and young beer are judiciously mixed until a perfect balance is achieved is was used to be done by the numerous local brewers in Belg ium, but today this practice has become ver y rare. "

"At our brewer y in Brug es, we brew Den Bruinen Os, a dark, sweet, rich and heavy beer. We then blend that beer with Lambic from the oldest lambic brewer y in the world located in Itterbeek : Brouwerij Timmermans. is Lambic has matured for more than twelve months in wooden barrels and is known as the pinnacle of Belg ian sour beer anks to spontaneous fermentation and thus the presence of g ood bacteria from the air, it possesses a natural fruitiness without the

ne des Fl andres, Bruges

addition of fruit," said the brewmaster omas Vandelanotte.

Historical presence in Br uges cit y centre

e histor y of Bourg ogne des Flandres g oes back to 1825, when the son of brewer Corneille Van Houtr y ve opened brewer y Den Os in Brug es ' cit y centre. At that time, Brug es had a hug ely rich brewing tradition.

is is where Bourg ogne des Flandres saw the lig ht of day in the shadow of Brug es '

Belfr y, which is why it appears on the labels O ver the years, however, more and more breweries moved away from Brug es, to the point where nothing at all was brewed in the cit y Brewer y Den Os was one of the last brewer y to disappear, but the Bourg ogne des Flandres brand remained. Many years later, the beer came into the hands of John Martin, who decided to g ive Bourg ogne des Flandres back its historical presence in the centre of Brug es in the form of a cra beer brewer y and g in distiller y with visitor centre

Unique cultural outing for the whole f amily

roug h the unique combination of a fully functional brewer y and distiller y with a visitor centre, you g et there a special insig ht into both the histor y and character of the products and the actual production process You can see the brewer at

work with your own e yes and even ask him questions In addition, you can taste one of beers on the beautiful terrace, with a view of the historic inner cit y and the canals. As the location is part of the UNESCO World Heritag e, a visit to the brewer y becomes an unforg ettable cultural trip. By the way, children can also have fun here thanks to a special trail where the y have to search for moles !"

Want to know more ?

www.bourgognedesflandres.be

"At our brewer y in Br uges, we brew Den Br uinen Os, a dark, sweet, rich and heav y beer. We then blend that beer with L ambic from the oldest l ambic brewer y in the world located in Itterbeek: Brouwerij Timmer mans ”