Col Chilcott's normandy tour
 

Has anyone taken this tour recently? We're currently on his calendar for 7 August.

Greetings,

We took it about 3 years ago and it was quite unusual. He does a good job of getting you to the key sites and is quite knowledgeable--although with very strong ideas of his own about the German and French personality as witnessed in the war. I am a lover of France and true Francophile, and he is not. However, I enjoyed the trip and felt I learned a lot. My husband and brother-in-law, both of whom are very knowledgeable about the war, felt that his interpretation was interesting, but not without bias. Nonetheless, we recommend. Are u planning on staying in his bed and breakfast? If so, there is more to the story.

No, we're at Lion D'Or; there wasn't enough room at his inn for our stay. I just want to have a very good, knowledgeable guide since our two teenaged boys will be with us and my dad/uncles fought in WW2. We've had biased guides in Germany and Austria before and found some of their comments to be "amusing".

I think you will prefer the Lion d'Or, so that sounds like a good arrangement. The colonel will provide lots of information and it will be good to see if your sons pick up his bias--I suspect they will. Have a great trip and bring something warm and waterproof for the battlefields. We went at the last of May I believe and the winds and rain were strong. It is a stern reminder of what our troops went through and that has stayed with me. The rest of Normandie was mild and lovely and we truly enjoyed our trip that year.

Hey, Robyn. We stayed at the Chilcott's a few years ago. What did you mean by "there's more to the story?" Email me privately if you want.

Done!

Betsy - did you take his tour or another?

If the secret about Col is his fondness for midday imbibing followed by a long nap, this is no secret.

as long as the imbibing and naps don't occur during our tour, I'm fine!

cmeyer, we studied up and visited the beaches on our own. If you want to do it that way, find a good travel guide and have at it. Maybe someone can suggest a resource they found helpful. I can't remember which one I used. Driving along the coast is easy if you have a car.

My wife and I stayed at the Col's bed and breakfast and took his tour two years ago. We enjoyed his company and the tour was wonderful. Col Chilcott is very British and this just adds to the whole experience. As to his opinions, don't we all have them to one degree or another? We wouldn't hesitate to stay with him and take another tour and in fact we are planning to do just that next year. If you have a video camera be sure to take it along to both film the tour and get his comments on tape. Take an extra tape which I didn't and almost ran out at the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach.