Where are you going for your hols next year? If you are tired of Torquay or the Costa del Sol why not try a holiday with a Napoleonic flavour?

I have come across two specialist tour organisers who run such trips.

The first is Major & Mrs. Holt's Battlefield Tours Ltd. who organise over 50 different tours spanning many centuries of military history. These holidays involve visits to battlefields and museums, plus lectures by well-known figures such as our Hon. Editor, David Chandler. They currently have four Napoleonic tours on offer:

Kent in Defiance of Napoleon 1803 looks at the preparations made in this area to counter the expected invasion by the French. The tour involves visits to the various defence works along the coast, such as Martello Towers, the Royal Military Canal and Fort Amherst at Chatham. The tour is presented by Julia Page, is three days in length, and the basic price is £ 159.

Napoleon v Wellington 1815 is three days in Belgium studying the Waterloo campaign. Basic price £ 219.

Wellington and the Peninsular War (Part 1) is an eight day stay in Portugal, visiting Oporto, Busaco, Rolica, Vimeiro, Torres Vedras and Lisbon. Basic price £ 798. This can be followed by Wellington and the Peninsular War (Part 2), another eight days in Portugal and Spain, looking at such sites as Badajoz, Almeida, Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca and Talavera. Price for this tour is 𨁴.

All tours allow the participants time for sight-seeing and shopping, and so you can take along the family without them getting bored. For full details write for a brochure to:

Major & Mrs. Holt's Battlefield Tours Ltd.,
Golden Key Building,
15 Market Street,
Sandwich, Kent, CT13 9DA.
Tel. 0304 612248.

From Grapeshot Tours comes a brochure about their excursion Eagles on the Danube, which roughly follows the course of Napoleon's 1809 campaign; via Landshut, Regensburg and Passau, along the Danube to Vienna. The brochure emphasises that this holiday is a leisurely one, following in the Emperor's footsteps, and is a mixture of looking at history and a relaxing sight-seeing tour. There are talks about the battles and places of Napoleonic interest in the area, visits to museums, and to the sites of Aspern/Essling and Wagram. The tour is nine days in length and the basic price is £ 875.

For further details contact:

Grapeshot Tours,
'Lindenhof',
Weyhill, Andover,
Hants, SPI1 8HX.
Tel. 0264 773711.

I understand other tours are in preparation.

Note: All prices quoted are from the 1991 brochures, and exclude single room supplements and insurance. If you are interested then contact the companies direct for the 1992 information.