What happened on the Western Front when the guns fell silent? In 1919 the inhabitants of Ypres returned to find their homes and the countryside devastated. Today just one of the wooden prefabs that they lived in remains inhabited. The great medieval town was a heap of ruins: Churchill wanted them preserved as 'Holy Ground'. Instead Ypres was completely rebuilt. The restoration of the thirteenth century Cloth Hall was only completed in 1968 and that of the ramparts in the 1990s.

We examine the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and its first director, Fabian Ware. Over 100 cemeteries were created in the Ypres Salient alone, including the largest British war cemetery in the world at Tyne Cot. The building of permanent memorials and cemeteries was the task of architects such as Sir Edwin Lutyens, the poet Rudyard Kipling (whose son was amongst the missing) and horticulturalists including Gertrude Jekyll. They drew inspiration from English country churchyards to create reminders of home. At Fromelles a new cemetery was created in 2010 after the discovery of a mass grave of 250 Australian and British soldiers. At the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing the last post has been sounded every evening at 8pm since 1929, interrupted only by the Second World War. We also find out about the fate of the British community in Ypres during the Second World War.

We visit two sombre yet powerful German cemeteries. At Langemark the 1930s design seems to symbolise a nation which believed itself undefeated. By contrast at Vladslo, the grieving parents sculpted by Käthe Kollwitz kneel before the grave of her own son. We look at the continuing role that remembrance plays with a visit to the Island of Ireland Peace Tower at Messines. In 1922 King George V toured the war cemeteries then under construction. His final visit was to Terlincthun for a 'crowning act of homage' and that is where we will also end. Our guide Simon Jones will lead a tour which reflects the profound human and emotional legacies of the war.

ITINERARY
Day 1 (Friday): Depart Victoria Coach Station London 0900. Dover-Calais ferry. Introduction to cemeteries in the Ypres Salient. To Ypres, Ariane Hotel (3 nights). Dinner in hotel.
Day 2: The history of the CWGC. Le Trou Aid Post Cemetery, the Indian Memorial at Neuve Chapelle and Pheasant Wood Cemetery, Fromelles. Jack Kipling: Loos Memorial to the Missing and St Mary's ADS Cemetery. Lutyens' Béthune Town Cemetery. Lunch break in Béthune. Cemetery and memorial at Hyde Park Corner, the 'lost' cemetery at Rosenberg Chateau, the Peace Tower at Messines, tragedy at Bois Quarante. Own dinner in Ypres.
Day 3: Exploring Ypres, including St George's Memorial Church, British School and the Menin Gate. Lunch break in Ypres. Langemarck and Vladslo German cemeteries. Evening attend Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony. Group dinner.
Day 4: Tyne Cot and Terlincthun Cemeteries. Lunch break in Boulogne. Calais – Dover ferry. Arrive approx 1830 Dover and 2030 London.