Wow......where do I start?...First off, let me begin by saying that Richard and Carolyn were awesome hosts. They were there to walk us through the check-in process and answered all the questions we had. The way the cottage was decorated and set up tells you they really love this place. Every single detail in cottage was thought out and made us feel like we were in our home away from home. The place was impeccable , linens smelled amazing, fridge stocked with water, soda and even juice for kids and not to mention the complimentary bottle of wine and chocolate for the adults :) . The cottage was also stocked with all types of kitchenware, linens, towels, beach chairs and even shampoo, soap and lotion. Now, about the location....we were literally less then a minutes walk to the beach where we would walk to every morning to watch the surfers do their thing. There were many options to eat and shop that were also walking distance from the cottage. We would recommend trying Pizza my heat for Pizza and Thai Basil for some pad thai. Another great thing about this cottage was the parking...very convenient to have parking on the property as we noticed that the street parking would get full easily and the nearby parking lot was pretty expensive. If you are vising the Santa Cruz area, I would definitely recommend staying at Richard's and Carolyn's beach Cottage. This is one of the nicer areas of Santa Cruz! We are definitely going to plan another trip here but with the kids next time! *****