We will be traveling in London and Cotswolds area in June. Our l3 year old son is traveling with us under protest. We promised him we would try to tour a dungeon and a garden maze if he would bear with us for museum tours and country lanes. Any suggestions? Leaving him home is not an option...

In and around London the most obvious maze is at Hampton Court Palace. This is a good day out for adults too. Guided tours by folk in period costume are included in the entrance fee but optional, if they fit your timetable take them as they do give background information on what you are seeing. <BR> <BR>Last summer mazes sprung up all over England. Some art project encouraged people to cut mazes in farm fields and build them in public places. I don't know if this has finished but who knows what you might happen upon. <BR> <BR>In Tooley Street, just under London Bridge Station, is the London Dungeon, a waxworks type museum with a definate gothic bent.

I think a 13 year old will laugh at the waxworks, it's rather fake looking. <BR> <BR>Leeds Castle just south of London is wonderful for adults and has an excellent maze within the palace gardens. <BR> <BR>Best wishes on your trip!

I don't know. I think a 13-year-old may get a kick out of the London Dungeon (or maybe it was called the Torture Museum). It's pretty touristy and perhaps overly dramatic for adults (don't ask me why we went - I think I may have had a few pints to many). But it was sort of fun. The scenes are pretty gory and there's an interactive live part at the end complete with a mini funhouse-type ride. If I was a teenager who had to indure hours in "boring" museums all day, I would enjoy this place.

Since you will be in the Cotswolds area, maybe you can make it up to Warwick & visit Warwick Castle. It is on the Avon river. This castle has a dungeon & a room with torture instruments displayed. The dungeon is a rather small room, but that is how they used to be in the castles, not the big giant dungeon rooms that you might see in the movies. One of the things you see there looks just like a hole in the floor, which is exactly what it is, but that hole in the floor was a place that was used as a jail cell. You can also do lots of climbing along the walls & in the towers in Warwick castle. The castle is also something that the adults can enjoy. <BR>

There's also a hedge maze at Blenheim, as well as a giant chess board, and a butterfly house. The hedge maze had shorter hedges than Hampton court, so adults could see over them. Blenheim is a great house to visit and take the guided tour. Its close to Oxford.

Trinka, I can sympathize with your situation. We took our 11 and 15 yr old girls to UK last summer and the 15 yrs old threw fits before and during the trip. For some reason, I seem to read more about boys than girls, but here are my words of symphathy. <BR> <BR>Maze: We went to Blenheim palace. The maze is a section about 600 yrds from the palace entrance, walk, drive, or take a mini train that does not run that often to get there from the palace. After listening to all kinds of whines, once they goto to maze they entertain themselves getting lost in the maze. There were other things in this "Pleasure garden (or something like that)" part of the palace. They didn't want to leave. <BR> <BR>Museum: suprisingly, kids actually like right kind of museums. Research museums that might interest both of you. London has no shortage of museums to please diverse interests. <BR> <BR>Towerbride experience: may interest if he is mechanically minded. One drawback, however, are 3(or 4?) 5 min presentations on the history of the bridge. Our 15yrd old stayed at a cafe nearby with my wife while the 11yrd old and I enjoyed the presentation and the tour of the inside. <BR> <BR>Prime Meridian: with approach of year 2000, history of time keeping may be of interest. Beside obvious meridian marker, there is a museum of history of precision maritime timekeeping. Again, our more mechanically oriented 11yr old came with me to see the exhibit while the 15yr old stayed outside with my wife. While the observatory was perhaps about a mile walk from the train stop or dock (a short walk by European standard), our "drop me off at the theater entrance" girls did not like any of these walks. <BR> <BR>Legoland Windsor: if you are visiting Windsor castle (which our girls had no interest except for the doll house.) Legoland is just a short city bus hop away. While our girls were at the upperend of the age there, they would spent long time looking at the lego miniture world exhibits.

He should enjoy the science museum. Also the London Transport museum. There he can drive a Tube train in a simulator. It's sad to hear that kids are protesting trips to Europe. My kids couldn't wait to go and I would have killed for a trip to Europe at that age. He will get caught up in it all when you get there, I predict. The Tower of London doesn't have a dungeon, per se, but has housed a lot of famous prisoners, and listening to the Yeoman Warders tell their stories is riveting and very entertaining, even for 13-year-olds. They are very funny guys.

And how about the Jack the Ripper walk in London?

Thanks for the suggestions! A lot of these sound like fun and I'm sure he'll find them entertaining.