The Village Green

The Village Green is the patch of open ground in the middle of Queenstown, on Camp Street, with Horne Creek running through the middle of it. For a town centre this dense, having a green space right in it is unusual, and it does a lot of work.

Most of the time it is somewhere to sit down. The rest of the time it is the venue: the council manages it for recreation and cultural events, and through the year it hosts markets, community days, screenings, festival stages and a good share of the Queenstown Winter Festival in June.

Practical

It is a two-minute walk from the Mall, and the closest green space to most of the town's accommodation. There is no charge and nothing to book unless you are running an event — in which case the council requires ground protection on the turf, restricts vehicles, structures, tents and marquees without approval, and needs resource consent for amplified sound after 8pm. Anything running six days straight, or forty days in a year, needs a licence to occupy.

Horne Creek is small but it is a creek, and it comes up after heavy rain like everything else here.

Nearby

Earnslaw Park is down on the waterfront with the Saturday market, and Queenstown Gardens is a ten-minute walk around the bay if you want trees and a loop track rather than a lawn in town.