underpar

We are planning a two week trip to England next June (June 13-27) with a 15 and 16 year old. We plan to stay in London 4-5 days. We will be visiting relatives for 2 days in Leicester area.

We are trying to fill in the rest of the time. Looking at Cotswolds, Oxford, Stratford upon Avon, Bath.

We are concerned teenagers will be bored with places outside of London. Any suggestions on places to visit and stay. Any hotels/inns with good rooms for families would also be appreciated (including London)

jsmith

This article from The New York Times may be helpful to you and others:

TAKING CHILDREN TO THE REALM OF CULTURE
3 Families, 3 Strategies: London

http://nytimes.com/pages/travel/index.html

The site requires registration but it's free.

rex

Spent two nights in Windsor with our own three teenage daughters, six cousins and two boyfriends (age range 13-22) in 1998 and they all loved it. We went for high tea one evening at the place where they filmed "Three Weddings and a Funeral" and to theater in High Wycombe (nearby) for less than half what London theater might have cost.

Stayed at the Fairlight Lodge, and recommend it without hesitation (though this is now 5 and 1/2 yrs old info).

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34411217

Best wishes,

Rex

bellairegirl

Underpar,

We went to London over Spring Break last year for 1 week with our kids, aged 12 and 14. They loved London so much that we are in the process of planning a return trip next June.

For our next trip, we plan to stay in London for 7 days (as our last 7-day trip barely scratched the surface of what we wanted to see and do) and then spend 3 days in York. After extensive research, we chose York because it seems like there will be a lot of interesting things to do in the area. We plan to explore York, take the Ghost Tour, rent a car to see Hadrian's Wall, Castle Howard and the Forbidden Corner (see this link: http://www.yorkshirenet.co.uk/theforbiddencorner/).

Also, although my husband and my kids don't enjoy a formal afternoon tea, they have learned to appreciate a good scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam. So we'll be heading to Betty's either in York or in Harrogate. Fodor's posters have highly recommended the Four Seasons bed and breakfast in York, and we've booked their family room.

As to places to stay in London, we rented an apartment near King's Road in Chelsea and loved it. We liked the area a whole lot and really enjoyed being in a neighborhood, as well as having 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen! (Even a washing machine!) We plan to try to stay in the same apartment on our return trip.

Hope this helps.

Susan

curmudgeon

My teens had a great time on our trip to UK, but then they enjoy most of our family trips. One thing we did in planning is have the kids come up with their own lists of places they would like to visit, which involved them in doing some research and feeling a part of the planning.

If the kids have any interest in military history, there are many good museums - my son's favorite was the Tank/Armored Vehicle museum someplace down in Devon. Boys tend to overdose on cute villages and shops firly quickly - Castles go over much better. My daughter is a bookworm, her favorite was Hay-on-Wye, a village new Wales that is full of used bookstores.

We didn't try to fill every moment with historical England; we did a few generic things like pitch-n-putt golf and go-karts to balance out the grand houses and castles. I would suggest looking beyond Cotswolds area to places like Devon/Cornwall, Wales, or Scotland. We mostly stayed in B&Bs that we found as we went along, with the occasional Travel Inn (Holiday Inn style chain) when we were traveling late.

Marz

You could always visit the National Space centre in Leicester that may keep the teenagers happy.

How about Belvoir castle or Rockingham Castle both of which are not very far from Leicester.

Rutland Water is not far as well and offers sailing, wind surfing and cycling.

http://www.nssc.co.uk/

Mucky

Hi underpar,
What kind of interests to the 'children' have? do they like sport, music, culture? Are they male /Female?
You are in Leicester which is quite well located for most of Central England and Wales.
Will you have access to a car?
I can assure you they won't be bored with places outside London.
London is a great destination but actually there is far more to the UK than just London and I am really pleased that you have the opportunity to see some of it.
Tell us the kind of things they like and I am sure someone will help.

Have fun

Muck

KidsToLondon

The recently-upgraded exhibit at the Roman baths in Bath is pretty cool. While you are in this general area, consider a sidetrip to Warwick to see the renowned castle. The almost constant special activities there make Warwick castle a popular spot with family visitors.

You've also got the chance to see a stone circle or two while traversing the countryside: Stonehenge is the most famous (and most touristy), but there are others, like the Rollright Stones near Oxford. You'll be in England on the Summer Solstice which adds some flavor to stone circle sites (complete with local Druid wanabes at many locations).

Oxford is another terrific medium-sized city--the university atmosphere may make it more appealing to your teens.

Stratford upon Avon is a toss-up. If your kids have any interest in Shakespeare, they *may* find Stratford worthwhile.


David White
[email protected]

underpar

Thanks for all the information.

I am leaving London on a Thursday morning and have to be near Leicester by Saturday early afternoon.

I would like to visit Stonehenge on Thursday AM and see Bath on Thursday pm.
I would then like to see some of the Cotwolds on Friday or Saturday morning. Is this too quick a visit for these sites. Should I stay in Bath on Thursday and then stay further north in the Cotswolds on Friday.

Any suggested hotels/inns for 2 adults and 2 teenagers (15,16 years).

Thanks.

ben_haines_london

TEENAGERS IN LONDON

INTRODUCTION

These are notes from Fodors forum parents over the last three years.

Videos that feature London--not just travel videos, but English children's stories and movies like 101 Dalmatians that have scenes in the city.

Involve the uoung people in the planning. If you plan a flexible itenerary that mixes their choiced of sites and activities with things that adults want to see, you'll be on the right track

Magazines. There are pages of theatre and other events in the weekly listings magazine, Time Out London, available from Borders Books in Seattle and probably elsewhere for a $4.00 fee: total cost $9.74. You need two copies because, in general, and as you know, they'll like things better if they feel that they had a chance to choose them.

Your travel cards will cover busses as well as tubes and local train. So for little trips like Science Museum to Harrods or Regent's Street to the British Museum you might like to travel on the top of a bus. To be ready for this, you can pick up at a tube station a bus map for central London. Then you'll find each stop says which number busses stop there, and a glass panel says where they go. If you find it hard going try getting the children to do it: many young people enjoy map reading.

Street markets. Covent Garden is expensive, but has good free street performers. If you have Greenwich in mind for seeing ships and astronomy then a visit on Friday or Saturday could incorporate the large market area there. To see and smell a proper cheese shop (Neale's Yard), a pie stall, and a fruit and vegetable stall visit Borough
Market, London Bridge tube. Fodors correspondents liked the Camden Market. All are listed in Time Out and in What's On in London.

Southern Band

At Windsor, river boat ride, and the Castle. For children aged 5 and 8 half a day each was the right length.
http://www.windsor-tourism.co.uk/.
http://www.windsor-gb.co.uk/ Train from Waterloo.
The maze at Hampton Court. http://www.hrp.org.uk/index2.htm. Train from Waterloo
The Science Museum at South Kensington http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/welcome.html:
The Natural History Museum, South Kensington. Museum http://www.nhm.ac.uk/,
Visiting London with teens, make sure you go to the Victoria & Albert, one of the most beautiful museums I've ever seen in the world. Head for the British History section, where they have "discovery areas" where children can learn by doing, and study areas to learn in depth about artifacts and way of life in the past. Our kids (ages 14, 13, and 10) absolutely loved this experience.
National Army Museum, Chelsea, Sloane Square and a bus: rather a way to go, so perhaps you should sadly miss it. http://www.harrods.com/
The Imperial War Museum. WWI & II exhibits: you can clamber on tanks and in warplanes, Lambeth North. http://www.iwm.org.uk/
The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace, Victoria
St James Palace, Green Park
St James Park, Westminster
The London Duck tour. It's a tour with an amphibian craft that also goes into the Thames. He will love that. www.frogtours.com/welcome/default.asp
The Cabinet War Rooms (and hearing Churchill's speeches), Westminster
At Piccadilly: Hard Rock Café, Rock Circus (wax museum of the history of rock & roll), Planet Holywood (for the James Bond room)
Art galleries in London have great skill and experience in letting young people enjoy themselves. Web sites well worth a visit are http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/pl...familyfun.htm: the National Gallery on Trafalgar square
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/lecindex.asp: the National Portrait Gallery, just north east of the National Gallery
The National Gallery
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/programmes/families.htm: Tate Britain, south of Victoria and west of Westminster
The London Eye (big wheel), Westminster. http://www.british-airways.com/londoneye/ There is a good photo guide for 2 pounds, with labelled photos of the views in each direction. A tiny playground at the base of the wheel was great for my 5-year-old to let off steam after the ride on the wheel.
London Aquarium, Westminster Bridge. http://www.londonaquarium.co.uk/
The Sherlock Holmes Museum, Charing Cross
The London Transport Museum (and the tube simulators) Covent Garden. http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/. It is not big, we spent about an hour there, then had lunch in the cafe, from which you can look down into the museum, if you go up to the upper level.
Shopping and watching the buskers in Covent Garden
Thames boat tours from Embankment to Tower. http://www.cockney.co.uk/river.htm#boats
St Bartholomew the Great, Barbican
The Museum of London, St Paul's. http://www.museumoflondo.org.uk, and 020 7600 3699. Parents have specially mentioned their Blitz display.

The top of St Paul's Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral. http://max.roehampton.ac.uk/link/dswark/cath/index.htm
A good lunch is upstairs at the Market Porter pub in Borough Market. They welcome young people. Since pub portions are large you might order one main dish and two plates - the pub has no objection, and this leaves space for pudding. http://alt.venus.co.uk/vpub/se1area.htm
Below the south side of London Bridge main line station is the Old
Operating Theatre, reasonably exciting. And from there it is five minutes under the station to H M S Belfast, a whole ship to explore. http://www.iwm.org.uk/belfast.htm
To go right up to see London. By lift, free, Guys Tower in Guys Hospital, London Bridge tube. By stairs, and you pay to enter, the Monument or the Dome of St Paul's.
Over the river is the Tower. I think you can buy tickets for it the day before in any tube station. It gets crowded, so you want to arrive at opening time, nine Tuesday to Saturday and ten Sunday and Monday. If there is a queue (line) for the Crown Jewels you can miss them. The time you get to view them is usually short, and there are older and finer crown jewels in Edinburgh, Budapest and Vienna. People on Fodors forum mention the good humour of the well-informed beefeaters. These lead tours but are not "tourist guides". If the Queen were to sleep in her palace of the Tower they would be responsible for her safety. Include the armor display in the White Tower at the Tower of London. Armor for everyone from King Henry VIII (and his horse!) to children's armor, lots of swords, etc. http://www.tower-of-london.com/index2.html
Tower Bridge. http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/

Greenwich, by train from Charing Cross or London Bridge. Or by Docklands Light Railway, ?which is very convenient from central London. My children like riding in the front car of the driverless Docklands Light Railway to get there?. In winter the boat trip from Embankment or the Tower is cold and long, and it's not too warm in April. In fact, better go on a hot day in summer. At Greenwich: the Cutty Sark, http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search/uk...Bridge&y=y, the National Maritime Museum with hands-on rooms (captain your own sub) http://www.nmm.ac.uk/, the Meridian, and the Observatory, http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/

A rail trip from Waterloo to Hampton Court or Windsor



Northern Band

Portebello Road weekend matrket, including army equipment and antique guns. Notting Hill Gate tube
Canal trips that go past the London Zoo to Camden Loch and back, and the London Zoo. Both in good weather (a parent: ?wait 5 minutes and it will come?).
The Camden Market, Camden Town. http://www.camdenlock.net/markets.html
The Virgin Records Megastore (open until midnight or thereabout), Oxford Circus. http://virginmega.com/
Shopping in Carnaby Street
Chinatown is colorful and good for a walkthrough.
British Museum, Holborn. This has an audiotour tape with colour guide book which my son loved following like a scavenger hunt - we stayed in the Museum for over two hours (a record for him) and he still remembers it as great fun. If the Greek and Roman rooms pall, upstairs are the Roman British Room and the next door Anglo Saxon room, with gold hordes and a ship burial. (If you read them the bit about Grendel's mother from a translation of "Beowulf" at breakfast the day you go you'll have them in the mood). Not far away are early twentieth century radio sets. http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/.
Good lunches Mondays to Fridays are north of the museum, in the MacMillan Hall of the University's Senate House, and for spicy Asian and Mexican food the students' refectory of the School of Oriental and African Studies on the north east corner of Russell Square.



Things to Miss. These are many.

The Victoria and Albert Museum, except that some girls like the
dresses, and like talking with their mothers about them

Buckingham Palace: a large and dull building. Most of the year you can't
enter, and in high summer it's expensive. If you want a good palace, try St
James Palace, between Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly. But there's no
great point. What you can do is inspect the guardsman. Has he polished his
boots ? Cleveland Row. Tube Green Park
The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The change at Horse Guards Parade at eleven (Sundays at ten) is easier to see, less crowded, and more fun. But again, not specially worth while.
While we adults thought the Changing of the Guard at Buck Palace was boring, children aged 14, 13 and 10 really liked it.

St Paul's Cathedral. Looks like an overblown Duke's living room, and costs a lot. Even Westminster Abbey is a drag, crowded, hard to see things, and hard to understand unless you've read a lot of English history. If you want to see a church, the most atmospheric is the twelfth century St Barthomolew's the Great, St Paul's tube, and the most open and pleasant is the fourteenth century Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge tube.


[email protected]

underpar

Ben Haines - Great note -
My daughter will especially like the rock and roll oriented items in the list (e.g. rock wax museum, virgin records)