Kids in the UK and Eire

It may depend on your kids. I traveled to those places with my son when he was 1, 9, and 17. This year we took my nephew 13 and niece 8. In Ireland: Bunratty, Glendalough, Newgrange, Book of Kells, Christ's Church/Dublinia, Hard Rock cafe, Rock of Cashel. In Scotland Cathness glass, Dunnottar Castle and many of the castles in Gramphian, Ediburgh castle, aquatic centers, Hadrian's wall (roman forts) and more. England there are so many: Big Bus tours, tower of London, Hard Rock cafe, Sherlock Holmes house at 22b Baker St., London Eye, Greenwich, the Harry Potter tour––Gloucester cathedral, King's Cross station,(search the web if that is of interest). I always tell people with kids this age to encourage them to research what is there and what looks fun. If they have a hand in it, they are a lot more excited about the prospects.

I agree w Linda, I took two sons to England (incl London) and Scotland and you can't go wrong with Tower of London, and my youngest lists going to Loch Ness as the high point of that trip. he scooped up water from Loch Ness in honor of the 'monster' and it still sits on his shelf 5 years later..even though Rick doesn't like the London Dungeon my boys loved the gory, corny spooky stuff. the London Eye is a must and if your kids like theatre at all, a musical is lots of fun. my youngest is into drama so we went to 3 shows. for sure let them help plan, expect them to sleep in and be flexible. I would get up and go to breakfast and see a museum before they even woke up the days I let them sleep in. then it was their turn to call the shots. I had to give in with requests for Burger King and Pizza Hut but it was worth not battling over food choices, as long as I got to pick sometimes.

Boy, one of our VERY favorite places we've ever been is the Iron Bridge Gorges museums. Especially Blists Hilll, which is an authentically restored Victorian mining town. It's the "epicenter" of the machine age & industrial revolution and quite fascinating - the candle maker alone gives you enough great information to make the trip worth it. He told us all about how candles were made (not with wax, so clean like they are now!) with "renderings," how some poor families actually ate a piece of candle every day in order to get some nutrition and the importance & uses of candles in the days before electric light. Some "company towns" actually added copper to their candles to make them green so only the miners would have them and if you were caught with a green candle outside work you'd be fired - not to mention the candles with copper were poisonous!
Here's a link to the Blists Hill page: http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/blists_hill_victorian_town/

I also love Chedworth Roman Villa - it's a remarkably preserved site in the Cotswolds.
Link:
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-chedworthromanvilla/

I also suggest you write for tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. It takes (and has taken) place every night at 10 for over 600 years (except during WWII). Your kids are old enough & it's unique, spooky fun. My son especially enjoyed being "locked in the tower" after hours and allowed to exit via a little door in the main gate.
Link: http://www.trooping-the-colour.co.uk/keys/index.htm

We took both of our kids when they were the ages of yours. I echo the Tower of London. In addition, Windsor Castle is a really good trip. Lots of weapons and armor for the boy, lots of art, etc. for the girl. York is a good stopping point between London and Edinburgh. The Jorvik museum is fun- gives the history of the Vikings and York on a Disney-esque ride. Edinburgh is ok- Edingburgh castle is good. Inverness is probably better- take a cruise up Loch Ness and see Urquart Castle ruins, go to Drumnadrochit- the small village at the top of the loch with all the "monster" stuff, etc. Also conisder Aviemore- lots and lots of fun stuff in the area.

I liked Sterling Castle a little better than Edinburgh - more like "a real place" than a tourist site.
And I agree with Windsor - we saw the changing of the guards there, MUCH smaller crowds, and although I wasn't keen on it, we'd already paid the full admission which included seeing Queen Mary's Dollhouse, so the guards insisted we take it in - it WAS pretty interesting.

I asked my son (he's 15 what he liked) and he said "I just like seeing EVERYTHING there." He's going to accompany us on our 6th visit in October & is looking forward to "pre-history" sites, museums, some theater, maybe taking in a "football" game, and taking the "fish & chips in every town" tour!

I thank all of you for your help. Besides spending time with our families that live in Eire and England, I want to show them where we are from. All of your information is most helpful and very wanted.

Thank you so much!!!