A master plan has been prepared for a new luxury hotel and wellness retreat in the Wakatipu Basin. Waterfall Park is a 58-hectare block of Resort zone land, encompassing a secluded, steep-sided valley between Arrowtown and Lake Hayes. The development includes a “four-plus star” hotel within the valley, with a selection of restaurants, event spaces, a chapel, day spa and wellness retreat. It involves a substantial revegetation and riparian planting project, as well as restoration and repurposing of Ayrburn’s historic farm buildings.

The discreet valley is located just below (and to the south of) Millbrook Country Club, where Mill Creek spills over the head of the valley as a picturesque waterfall, on its way to Lake Hayes. “You can’t see the valley from the road and it’s been privately owned since the late 1800s, so very few people know the waterfall even exists,” says project landscape architect Hannah Ayres, from Rough and Milne.

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