8 acres of wasteland, a 66-year-old man spent 8 years growing flowers and vegetables, and finally turned it into a beautiful manor!

"This garden hidden in the bamboo sea is undoubtedly a paradise. It is spacious, grand and full of European style. Even in the West, such a garden would be breathtaking."

This is the praise that the American home magazine "Better Homes and Gardens" gave to this estate. Yes, this place can no longer be called a garden but should be called a manor.

This manor, which is envied by people both at home and abroad, was built by a 66-year-old Chinese man who took eight years to build it.

But the idea of ​​this manor had actually been lingering in Lao Zhang's mind 14 years ago.

Lao Zhang is a photographer. Before he devoted himself to building the manor, he had a crazy resume.

He traveled through the hinterland of Tibet 12 times, went to the western Sichuan Plateau more than 40 times, and traveled countless times in western China, taking nearly 100,000 photos of the scenery of the western Chinese plateau.

He loves natural scenery, various plants and is passionate about nature. He once said, I am a person who cannot stay in the city. The life I want is to be away from the hustle and bustle, so when he stopped, he chose to build a garden for himself.

The obsession with gardens was planted at an early age, because the place where Lao Zhang lived when he was a child was a big garden. Over the years, he has been quietly preparing for his own garden. When taking photos, he would go into the mountains when he had nothing to do. He would also visit other people's gardens, paying attention to the layout of every path and every pond.

But it is not easy to find a suitable place. Lao Zhang traveled to many places across the country, but he was not satisfied with any of them. It was not until 2002 that he finally chose the address for his manor.

It was an abandoned forest farm, more than 20 kilometers away from Ma'anshan city, with a total area of ​​8 acres. There were also bamboo forests stretching for dozens of kilometers around it, all full of lush green, and an excellent environment.

Old Zhang decided on this place without any hesitation. The lease term is 50 years. Only after the signing of the contract did Lao Zhang feel relieved and began to busy himself with gardening!

When the forest farm was first bought, it was very desolate and the surroundings were almost dilapidated. After carefully inspecting the surrounding environment, Lao Zhang finally decided to build it in a European style!

Lao Zhang did not look for a special designer, and planned to build it according to his own ideas.

Lao Zhang did not demolish all the remaining buildings. Instead, he reinforced and renovated them on the original basis and turned them into a two-story European-style red-roofed house, which looks like a British manor.

The renovation was a huge project, with bricks for building walls, stones for constructing paths, street lights in the yard, and various other decorations. It was a complicated and tedious task.

Lao Zhang is a person who cannot sit still. Even if there are special masters doing the construction, Lao Zhang will run around to help. He even goes to the mountains many times to look for a stone just because he finds it ugly.

But it was all worth it. It took eight years to finally build the manor. Every brick, every piece of wood, every stone and every blade of grass embodied Lao Zhang's hard work and sweat.

Lao Zhang also spent a lot of thought on the selection of plants in the garden. He planted more than one thousand kinds of plants in the manor. These plants include tropical, subtropical and temperate plants, and their flowering periods are staggered. In this way, the entire manor can have flowers blooming all year round.

However, some plants are not cold-resistant, so Lao Zhang specially built a 150-square-meter three-story greenhouse and moved in some plants that are difficult to survive the winter.

There are not only plants in the manor, but also various animals that Lao Zhang specially found. Most of them are free-range, such as the horses introduced from Xinjiang.

Peacock strolling in the garden

Elegant and beautiful swan

There are also many wild birds, some of which are rare species.

After Lao Zhang posted the photos of his manor on the Internet, the manor's reputation spread and gradually became well-known among flower lovers, and many flower lovers came to visit.

At the request of these flower lovers

In 2015, Lao Zhang tried to receive some flower lovers and took them to visit his carefully designed manor.

In addition to the large flower bed in front, there is also a mountain spring on the back mountain. After investigation, Lao Zhang simply used the terrain to create a special waterscape.

Every day, clear spring water flows from the mountain into the garden, first passing through the swimming pool.

It then flows through the koi pond and lotus pond, ensuring that the water in the yard is all living water.

Moreover, Lao Zhang also made a homemade filtration system to ensure that the water in various pools can be crystal clear all year round.

Zhang is very attentive to his garden, especially to the details. He even designed the pattern on the bottom of the swimming pool himself.

The most favorite part of the whole yard for Lao Zhang is the large lawn in the center of the garden, which is decorated with red pottery jars and Japanese stone lanterns, and the edges are decorated with red poppies, white chrysanthemums, foxgloves and other plants.

However, maintaining such a beautiful lawn every day is very hard, but Mr. Zhang enjoys it.

Usually, Lao Zhang himself is reluctant to step in, so the two peacocks strolling leisurely on the lawn seem particularly enviable.

Looking at the increasingly beautiful manor, even Lao Zhang himself was amazed. He originally just wanted to realize his dream, but he didn't expect that in the end, he would also gain his own spiritual garden.

Lao Zhang himself said: "After so many years of hard work, the original ruins have gradually become beautiful in my hands. It has become my spiritual home. I cherish this process very much."

Cultivate it with care, water it with love, and persevere, and even a desolate ruin will bloom again. This is true for gardens and for people.