I'm Niels.
I research, prepare and personally guide every Visit Flanders Fields tour, from the trenches around Ypres to the battlefields of the Somme and Northern France.
History makes more sense when you stand on the ground.
I grew up in Belgium, close to the landscapes of the Ypres Salient. The First World War was never something that existed only in books. Cemeteries, memorials, bunkers, craters and old front lines are still part of the landscape here.
Over the years that interest developed into detailed study of the Western Front. I spend much of my time working with battlefield maps, war diaries, soldiers' letters, service records, photographs and the ground itself.
Today I use that research to guide private battlefield tours through Flanders Fields and Northern France.
I do not want you simply to see a cemetery, memorial or trench. I want you to understand why it is there, what happened around it and, wherever possible, who experienced those events.
A battlefield tour should connect the pieces.
Dates and place names matter, but they become much clearer when you connect the military history with the terrain and the people who were actually there.
The landscape
Ridges, valleys, railway embankments, observation points, trenches and craters explain why battles unfolded as they did.
The evidence
Wartime photographs, maps, letters, diaries and military records help us reconstruct what happened on the ground.
The people
Whenever possible I use names and individual experiences rather than reducing the war to formations, statistics and arrows.
Your interests
If one soldier, cemetery, regiment or battle matters to you, we make room for it. There is no bus timetable forcing us onwards.
Guiding backed by study and field research.
Battlefield guiding is not simply knowing where the memorials are. It requires military history, local knowledge, research and the ability to make a complicated battlefield understandable.
- SYNTRA-certified regional guide for the Westhoek
- Specialist study of the First World War and remembrance tourism
- Further Western Front study through the University of Kent
- Independent battlefield and family-history research
- Private guiding across Flanders Fields and Northern France
- Member of the Somme Battlefields' Partner network
- Author of the forthcoming Faces of Flanders Fields
- Guiding available in English and Dutch
Your booking is not passed to someone else.
When you contact Visit Flanders Fields, you contact me. I read your enquiry, help plan the route, research personal connections where required and guide the tour myself.
That matters especially for family-history tours. The research done before the tour should connect directly with what is explained when we reach the battlefield.
Somme Battlefields' Partner
Visit Flanders Fields is a member of the Somme Battlefields' Partner network.
The network brings together tourism professionals, museums, remembrance sites, guides and other organisations involved in preserving and explaining the First World War heritage of the Somme.
It is a natural extension of what I already do with guests who travel beyond the Ypres Salient and follow the Western Front through places such as Vimy Ridge, Arras, Bullecourt, Pozières, Thiepval, Beaumont-Hamel and Villers-Bretonneux.
Explore Somme & Northern France tours
Sometimes the entire day starts with one name.
Some guests arrive knowing exactly where their relative fought. Others have little more than a photograph, a name or an old family story.
Where possible, I research those connections before the tour. A grave or memorial is important, but it becomes much more meaningful when we can also understand the unit, the battlefield, the route taken and what was happening around that soldier.
That may lead us to a famous location such as Tyne Cot, Passchendaele, Thiepval or Vimy Ridge. It can just as easily lead to an unmarked field, a small cemetery or a section of old front line that most visitors drive straight past.
Tell me who you are tracingThe battlefield should not feel like a checklist.
I deliberately keep Visit Flanders Fields private. No strangers join your group.
That gives us freedom to change the pace, spend longer where something matters, answer questions properly and adapt the route around your interests.
If a particular story becomes important during the day, we can follow it instead of watching the clock for the next coach stop.
Where I guide
Ypres & Flanders Fields
The Ypres Salient, Passchendaele, Messines, Hill 60, Tyne Cot, Polygon Wood, Langemark, the Menin Gate and the battlefield landscape around Ypres.
Somme
Beaumont-Hamel, Thiepval, Pozières, Lochnagar, Albert, the 1916 battlefield and later fighting across the Somme.
Northern France
Vimy Ridge, Arras, Bullecourt, Villers-Bretonneux, Fromelles and custom Western Front routes based on nationality, regiment or family history.
The scale of the First World War can be difficult to understand. My aim is to bring it back to the landscape and to individual people, so the names on a memorial become more than names.
The Western Front has changed enormously since 1918, but much of the story is still visible if you know how to read the ground.
That is what I want guests to take away from a Visit Flanders Fields tour. Not simply a collection of photographs from famous sites, but a clearer understanding of what happened here and why these places continue to matter.
Frequently asked questions
Is Niels a certified battlefield guide?
Niels is a SYNTRA-certified regional guide for the Westhoek, the region covering Ypres and much of the Belgian battlefield landscape. His specialist work focuses on the First World War and the Western Front, where he also holds accridation for.
Who actually guides the tour?
Niels personally prepares and guides Visit Flanders Fields tours. Your booking is not normally handed to a different guide. If Niels is not able to handle the tour personally, this is always discussed beforehand with you.
Do you research family members?
Yes. Where sufficient information is available, soldier and family-history research can be used to identify relevant graves, memorials, unit locations and battlefield sites.
Do you guide outside Belgium?
Yes. Tours also cover the Somme and wider Northern France, including Vimy Ridge, Arras, Bullecourt, Beaumont-Hamel, Pozières and other Western Front locations.
Which languages do you guide in?
Private tours are available in English, Dutch and French.
Tell me which story you want to follow.
Choose a standard private tour or send me a name, unit, battlefield or idea and we can build from there.