Dover Castle has not only the castle, but also the WWII underground bunker. Great tour.

Anonymous wrote:Center Parks, Woburn Forest. We stayed at Center Parks for a week; we visit the UK often.

Me again. The ages of your kids are perfect for Center Parks. No need to rent a car. On site grocery store and restaurants. Activities galore: laser tag, archery, bike riding, mini golf, pool,
spa, zip line. Location accessible only to those staying on site or visiting the spa. I’ve been 3 times. It is relaxing.

Center Parks, Woburn Forest. We stayed at Center Parks for a week; we visit the UK often.

Anonymous wrote:Hampton Court is a really easy train ride, has plenty to keep kids interested (the kitchen is especially cool), and a VERY cool themed play area with a snack bar so they can run around and you can get a coffee.

I think this might have been a summer thing but when I went they had a joust and a bird show too.

Hampton Court is a really easy train ride, has plenty to keep kids interested (the kitchen is especially cool), and a VERY cool themed play area with a snack bar so they can run around and you can get a coffee.

We rented a car from Turo and did Stonehenge and Portsmouth as a day trip. Stonehenge was our favorite part of the day, but in Portsmouth, we especially loved the Mary Rose Museum.

Definitely Bath, Stonehenge and Windsor. Did those with similar age kids. Was a lot of fun.

Take train to Dover and explore.

Anonymous wrote:Hampton Court Palace has a really nice playground.

But it also has a cool palace and stories about Henry VIII. Kids can have fun at the actual site. See "Horrible Histories" before going...

Anonymous wrote:Windsor is cool. I haven’t been but everyone loves the Cotswolds too.

PP. The Cotswolds are poorly connected to London by train for tourism purposes (few trains per day, few stops). There are buses that run through the region. However, in general, we were unable to figure out a speedy way to also visit the Cotswolds without a car while visiting Oxford, Salisbury, and Bath by train. It's more for people with cars or people on a walking vacation where they walk from town to town and a service shuttles luggage so they can stay in a different village each night. From London, you can get van tours of the Cotswolds or pass through on a bus tour to another destination like Bath as I mentioned above.

Oxford has some sites that were in the Harry Potter movies and/or the film set inspo. There's an old empty (literally medieval) classroom and the inspo for the Hogwarts library. And the inspo for the Hogwarts dining hall. I went to see these without my kids. We didn't have a day to go to the Leavesden studio near London where the sets are. What we did do together was take time to attend the West End Harry Potter stage play which is the two part play that only shows in a few cities. The Broadway version is the shortened version now.

Windsor is cool. I haven’t been but everyone loves the Cotswolds too.

Out 11 and 13 year olds really enjoyed Windsor castle.

This is OP. Thanks everyone, these are great ideas!