By Suzanne Rowan Kelleher

updated 1:13 p.m. ET Feb. 7, 2008

The meadow at the Tyler Place Family Resort, which slopes gently down from the inn to the shores of Edward’s Bay on Lake Champlain, is a very special place. The owners’ grandparents met there as 10-year-olds in the summer of 1874. Time passed. They fell in love, got married, and taught their own daughter to love the simple pleasures of summer. Like picking blackberries, catching frogs, building tree houses, and lying on the meadow that slopes gently down to the shores of Edward’s Bay.

That girl grew up, got married and became Judy Tyler, known to everyone as “Mrs. T.” She and her husband, along with his sister and her husband, bought the property. Back in 1933, Mrs. T had a tremendously progressive idea: They would open a resort just for families, and only in the summertime. Pricing would be all-inclusive, so guests wouldn’t be reaching for their wallets all day. And, most importantly, their resort would offer imaginative, age-staggered children’s programs that left plenty of couple time for parents.

And the rest, as they say, is history. For the past 75 years, this beloved resort in the northwest corner of Vermont has been helping families create old-fashioned, magical summer camp memories. Quite a few more will be made this summer on that very special meadow.

My family visited the Tyler Place for the first time last July. From the moment we arrived, we knew it was something wonderful. The big tip-off was that everybody else seemed to know his way around. As we drove along the country road that winds through the resort, we noticed loads of families on bikes, usually with the kids in the lead. Nine out of 10 families were repeat visitors. We met folks who’d been returning each summer for seven, nine, or even 12 years in a row. One woman had been coming for 22 years, first as a kid and later as a parent.

The Tyler Place is owned and managed by Ted Tyler and his sister Pixley, whose grandparents were those 10 year olds who met on the meadow. Many of their kids and grandkids work here, too, along with an exceptional staff. In a day when corporate nickel-and-diming is the norm in the travel industry, the Tylers wow guests with a spirit of old-fashioned and quite genuine hospitality. Case in point: On arrival day, every guest gets to choose a bike that he or she will use for the entire week.  There is no deposit taken, nothing to sign for. Each family is simply trusted to bring its bikes back at the end of the week.

To any parent who has struggled to put balance in family vacations, a visit to the Tyler Place can be something of an epiphany. There is a wonderful mix of family time, kid time, couple time, social time, and alone time. Kids experience a fun camp-style week and leave brimming with memories and accomplishments. My own kids seemed more willing to take risks and stretch. They experienced so many wonderful firsts that week, and that seemed true for every family. I wish I had a buck for everyone who insisted that his kid had learned to ride a two-wheeler at the Tyler Place.

Outstanding children’s programming has made the Tyler Place a constant fixture on Child magazine’s list of top 10 family resorts. There are nine age-staggered groups from newborn through 15 years old, each with its own clubhouse and the best counselor-to-child ratios you’ll likely ever encounter at a resort. Each group follows its own schedule of activities, doing different and exciting things every day. They play old stalwarts like Capture the Flag and Kick the Can, and learn new games, too. They go swimming in the lake, play on the giant water trampoline, and go boating. There are craft projects and nature outings and scavenger hunts. They learn a zillion camp songs, including one about a sticky moose and some juice. In the evening group, there are movie nights and pizza parties. In other words, they have a terrific week at camp. As children move up from one group to the next, more challenging activities are added to the schedule. So while preschoolers are busy watching puppet shows, cooling off at the Splash Pad, and having pontoon boat rides and fishing trips, preteens are kayaking, going on banana boat rides, and ziplining across the meadow. Teens gets even more daring, with bumper tubing, wakeboarding, and an off-site bike tour.

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Grown-ups are equally well cared for. Parents look forward to gourmet meals, adult conversation, and a pre-dinner cocktail hour every evening. The adult programming is impressively deep, letting you try out new things or indulge in old favorites. There are classes in Nei Kung, yoga, aqua aerobics, and Pilates. You can go rock climbing, skeet shooting, or fly casting for trout. You can tap your creativity in pottery, watercolor, and silk-screening workshops. There are tennis tournaments, low ropes courses, walking tours, canoe trips, bike rides, kayaking trips, and visits to wineries.

And then, all too soon, the week is over and it’s time to leave. You feel sad, yes, but also rested and restored. It’s been an edifying week. You are always connecting at the Tyler Place, be it with other people, nature, yourself, your family, and, in some small way, with those 10 year old kids who met on the meadow all those summers ago.

Mid-summer rates for a family of four run from $4,100 to $6,200 for the week, depending on accommodation size and location. Vacations can be significantly less expensive on the fringe weeks of summer. From Memorial Day weekend to June 14 and August 30 to September 6, rates are as much as 50 percent lower than in mid-summer.

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