What toys would you be glad to find in a holiday cottage?

[issynoko]

I am kitting out a holiday let aimed at young families. I want stuff the isn't annoying (beeping etc), doesn't need batteries to renew and is easy to clean but would be great to find in the toy box of a holiday cottage to keep babies and children entertained....have thought of Happy Land people, Lego, Duplo, puzzles etc any other ideas? Thanks!

Bigger beach stuff would be great - windbreaks, body boards that type of thing.

I like the idea of a welcome pack but I'm a bit fussy and never keen on using stuff that looks like someone else might have been using it first!! loo Roll (one in use and a spare) and some washing up liquid/dishwasher tabs are always a great find - even if just a little to start us off (one let we used left two dishwasher tabs!) A pint of milk and the makings of a cuppa on arrival are always great.

That said we have just booked our favourite cottage for the fouth time and there is nothing like that providedm at all, there is some really cheap liquid soap, that I think has been there for four years (or they keep replacing it) and there might be a bit of a loo roll, but thats about it!

I second jenga - and smaller kids can use it as building blocks!!

Games suitable for all the family, as on holiday you have time to sit down and teach your children how to play, Jenga has been suggested, uno is good from 3 or 4 yrs, second hand shop finds in the way of orchard toy or galt ones, kids monopoly and scrabble are good for the slightly older ones, a pack of cards, one of those multi game compendiums is cheap and suiable for all ages.

We have just returned from a fabulous half term break in Northumberland. We've stayed in the house before (and will stay again) so knew what to expect but here's some of the things that went down well with my two (Age 5 and 3):
Dressing up box with a couple of little outfits in, a couple of house teddies, a selection of bed time story books (we did take a few of our own but it was great to have a wider choice and we discovered a couple that we will buy for home cos the kids loved them), DVD's (for the wet days and we had a couple of those) and a roulette multi game type thing which the kids just made up their own games with.
From a grown up point of view, the champagne in the fridge on arrival was very well recieved (just a cheapish bottle but very nice after the drive) and a couple of disposable BBQ's that we used on the beach (on the non wet days!) were great too.