In another French field - but more than a corner, we have the Thiepval memorial. It dominates the landscape for miles around - constantly appearing between the trees, in all its brooding solidity.

Lutyen's designed it, I think he was using his children's duplo for inspiration. It lacks any sense of the grace and artistry of the Vimy ridge Canadian memorial - seeming to reflect a conservative sitting on what we have, brooding on what has been or might be lost, rather than any sense of hope for the future. It was the scene of this years centenary memorial for the start of the battle of the Somme. How good it was to listen to that memorial to hear the casualty figure include those from all side - Allied and German. The Somme was a tragedy for every nation, and the many families of the 1,000,000+ who were casualties of the triumph of machine over flesh, and machine over outdated tactics. The numbers are horrendous, and hard to appreciate in today's climate, where we are horrified by 5970 UK casualties (179 deaths) in 8 years of war in Iraq. There were 415,690 UK casualties in 5 months on the Somme battlefields. We might ask - was WW1 anymore or less 'legal' and legitimate than the Iraq war?

The new visitors centre is good as an introduction to the battle for the school groups. It was basic, and avoided the more horrific images as many UK museums do. It also had, in my view, far too many boards telling me about Lutyen's, and how the monument was built, rather than about the men it was there for.