The house is very well stocked with board games, kitchen utensils, towels, etc. Very comfortable space for the 6 of us. We did have a pretty stressful check-in as we were waiting over 3 hours after check-in time of 2pm outside the house to get in without anyone to phone, only email. Stressful enough that by 5pm with an 80yo mum and 82yo auntie, I had to call the local police to help me get a hold of someone while my husband tried to find us alternative accommodations. Finally got in after 5 thanks to the lovely police being able to track down the manager based on the name we had from the emails. There was an apology and lovely bottle of wine though for our troubles:-) For the money, I would expect that there would be better cooling upstairs. It was a hot week and we had all the upstairs windows open (the downstairs heat pump does not reach any of the bedrooms). This in combination with a lot of mosquitos and mites around and the fans in the evening were not adequate to keep the mosquitos away and keep us cool. So the Irish portion of our group did not sleep so well. So lots of bites and mugginess upstairs. Some of the cottages have upstairs heat pumps and we will make sure to stay in one of those units next time for this reason. Overall, Russell Cottages are one of our favourite spots in the entirety of New Zealand. This is our 4th time staying at the cottages and the first time we have given less than 5 stars. I loved the position of #13 cottage. Nice at the back of the complex and very private with a nice space to play outdoor games and read. I'd give 3.5 if there was an option but not 5 mostly due to the cost/night with the lack of cooling in bedrooms, mosquitos and check-in. I'd stay in this unit again if they installed a heat pump upstairs as it was the best stocked of any of the other cottages we have stayed in. Other than that, we LOVE the location, the pool and communal BBQ area and all the walks around town.