Caroline's house is just beautiful and as it was built more than 100 years ago it is probably as authentic Santa Cruz you can get. It's a big treasure chest - with beautiful antique furniture, art and orchids. And not to forget: Monsieur Claudius, the cat The room is on the top-floor looking out on the ocean and it's very sunny.

My favorite thing to do was to drink my morning tea in the garden in the sun, surrounded by trees and plants and overlooking Monterey Bay.

The house is a 10-15 minutes walk from downtown Santa Cruz with great shops, restaurants and coffee-shops. (Make sure to ask Caroline how to get there.) There is also a very nice coffee-shop just down the road called the Abbey.

So it's definitely a great "base camp" from which to explore the wonders of Santa Cruz.