'We don't want trash renting cheap houses.' Submissions like that against a new housing development in Arrowtown have outraged a young mum.

An art gallery owner who had a quilt stolen by an elderly English tourist says he can't believe she has left the country without being charged - or saying sorry.

The 75-year-old English woman who stole a quilt which was on display at the Lakes District Museum in Arrowtown told police she put it in a rubbish bin after taking it.

The woman who stole an art work in a brazen theft from the Lakes District Museum in Arrowtown was arrested last night in Te Anau.

Police are hunting a woman dressed in a large overcoat who strode into the Lakes Districts Museum and stole a large silk kimono.

Jarrod Allan Mangles, who murdered Arrowtown woman Maureen McKinnel 25 years ago, has been declined parole as he "poses an undue risk to the safety of the community".

A strong magnitude 5.3 earthquake has rocked much of the West Coast and Otago this morning.

As you drive up the long tree-lined road into Millbrook Resort, you get the eerie sensation that you're leaving the world behind you.

Looking back at interior design helps inform today's choices, says visiting lecturer Stephen Taylor.