"This hidden garden in the bamboo sea is undoubtedly a paradise. It is spacious, atmospheric and full of European style. Even in the west, such a garden will be amazing."
This is the praise of this manor from American home magazine "beautiful home". Yes, it can't be called a garden. It should be called a manor
And this manor, which is admired by Chinese and foreign people, is a 66 year old man in China. It took eight years to build
But about this manor's imagination, actually 14 years ago, already hovered in Lao Zhang's mind.
Lao Zhang is a photographer. Before he devoted himself to building the manor, he had a crazy resume.
He has traveled 12 times in the hinterland of Tibet, 40 times to the Western Sichuan Plateau, and countless times in Western China, taking nearly 100000 photos of the plateau scenery in Western China.
He loves natural scenery, plants and nature. He once said, I am a person who can't stay in the city, the life I want is to stay away from the noise, so when he stops, he chooses to build a garden by himself
The obsession with the garden has been planted since childhood, because Lao Zhang lived in a big garden when he was a child. Over the years, he has been quietly preparing for his garden. When photographing, he would drill into the mountains if he had nothing to do, and he would visit other people's gardens, pay attention to the layout of every path and pond.
But it's not easy to find the right place. Lao Zhang went to so many places in the country, but he was not satisfied. Until 2002, he finally chose the address of his manor
It's an abandoned forest farm, more than 20 kilometers away from the urban area of Ma'anshan, a total of 8 mu. Besides, there are dozens of kilometers of bamboo forests around, with green eyes and excellent environment.
Lao Zhang decided this place without hesitation. The lease term is 50 years. Only after signing the contract did Lao Zhang put his heart down and start to make a garden!
When the forest farm was just bought, it was very desolate and almost dilapidated. Lao Zhang carefully inspected the surrounding environment and finally made a decision to build a European style!
Lao Zhang didn't find a special designer. He planned to build it according to his mind.
Old Zhang didn't demolish all the old buildings. Instead, he strengthened and renovated them on the basis of the original building. He changed them into a two-story European style red roofed house. It looks like a British manor.
Transformation is a big project, the bricks used for building walls, the stones used for building paths, the street lights in the yard and various other settings, things are complicated and trivial
Lao Zhang is a restless person. Even if he has a special master to do the construction, he also runs to help him. Even just because a stone is not good-looking, he goes to the mountain many times to look for it.
But it's all worth it. It took 8 years for the manor to be built. One brick, one wood, one stone and one grass all condensed Lao Zhang's hard work and sweat
Lao Zhang also spent a lot of time on the selection of plants in the garden. He planted more than 1000 kinds of plants in the manor. These plants are tropical, subtropical, temperate, and each other's florescence is staggered. In this way, the whole manor can have flowers all year round.
But some plants are not hardy. Lao Zhang has built a 150 square meter greenhouse with three floors, bringing in some plants that are difficult to survive the winter.
There are not only plants in the manor, but also all kinds of animals that Lao Zhang specially looks for. Most of them are free range animals, like the horses introduced from Xinjiang.
Peacock strolling in the courtyard
Elegant and beautiful swan
There are many wild birds, even some rare species.
After Lao Zhang sent his manor to the Internet, the reputation of the manor spread. Gradually, he became famous in the circle of flower friends, and many flower friends came here.
At the request of these flower friends
Only in 2015 did Lao Zhang try to receive some flower friends and lead them to visit his well-designed manor.
In addition to the big flower bed in front, there is a mountain spring on the back mountain. After Lao Zhang's investigation, he simply made a special waterscape out of the terrain.
Every day, clear mountain spring water flows into the garden from the mountain, first through the swimming pool.
After that, it flows through koi pond and lotus pond to ensure that the water in the yard is living water.
And Lao Zhang also made a self-made filter system to ensure that all kinds of pools can be crystal clear throughout the year.
Lao Zhang is very careful about his garden, especially in the details. Even the pattern at the bottom of the pool is designed by himself.
To say that the most popular thing in the whole yard is to take a big lawn in the center of the garden. There are red pottery pots, Japanese style stone lamps, and red Yu beauty Gretel, white Jingju, maodihuang and other plants on the edge.
But the maintenance of such a beautiful lawn is very hard every day, but Lao Zhang enjoys it.
At ordinary times, Lao Zhang himself is reluctant to step in, so the two peacocks strolling leisurely on the lawn are particularly envious.
Looking at the more and more beautiful manor, even Lao Zhang himself felt very surprised. Originally, he just wanted to realize his dream, but he didn't think of the final harvest, and his spiritual garden.
Lao Zhang himself said: "after so many years of efforts, the original ruins in my hands, it has gradually become beautiful, it has become my spiritual home, I cherish this process."
Cultivate with heart, irrigate with love, and persevere. Even in the desolate ruins, flowers can flourish again, like gardens, like people.
