GARRY and Sue Vandenburg pull out all the stops to make their guests feel welcome at the spacious Dalrymple Tourist Van Park, known as the quietest park in Charters Towers.

Accommodation is just the start of the story. The Vandenburgs are always finding new ways to make guests feel welcome on a more personal level.

Something you won’t find at many places in your travels is the wood-fired, cedar-lined sauna - the only one in town. It’s a superb way to relax, European style.

Then there’s the barbecue area. An aviary and recent landscaping make this area very inviting. Devonshire tea is held there each Tuesday afternoon from May to September - and all park guest are invited. The scones with jam and cream, tea or coffee, come out at 3.30pm.

The barbecue area is also the place to be on Saturday nights during the tourist season, for a barbecue is run by either the local Lions club or athletics group. As well as being a fundraiser for them, it’s a great opportunity for park visitors to mingle.

There are campfires every night at this time of year too. Just wander over to the back of the barbecue area and there’s always a bit of yarning going on around the fire.

At other times, use the new camp kitchen with its toaster, kettle, microwave, fridge and electric hotplate.

Of course, when you’re on holidays you don’t always feel like cooking. And you don’t need to. The park offers all meals daily, delivered to your door and are stockists of old-fashioned candy from the Kuranda Candy Kitchen as well as espresso coffee, medium roast coffee and chocolate-coated coffee beans from Maloberti’s North Queensland Gold Coffee Plantation from Mareeba.

The Dalrymple Tourist Van Park offers self-contained cabins, spacious sites and large sites for motor homes.

It has a number of business excellence awards to its name. It also won the Seniors Card Exceptional Business Award for Queensland last year.