Located on the western side of the West Lake, the one-acre Guo Manor looks across the western inner lake to the Su Causeway. The estate is also known as Fenyang Villa.
The manor is surrounded by age-old trees against the undulating peaks in the distance. The waves touches the estate, bringing all the shadows and reflections of the lakeside scenery to the pavilions and houses. Looking across the expanse of the lake, you can discern the shadow of the Baochu Pagoda in the east merged with the causeway, and pleasure boats noiselessly glide on the glass-like waters.
Inside the estate are tall trees leaning against wooden houses, zigzagged corridors and pavilions perching on the ponds, flowers flanking narrow plate paths, birds hovering and dashing above and fish splashing now and then. When the silver moon shines brightly in a light breeze, you don't know where you are and what evening is this evening.
The Guo Estate has been well known far and near for centuries. The Records of Gardens in Southeast China makes such a comment on the lakeside manor: the estate is encircled by waters. It is so graceful and intricate that it resembles the Wangshi Garden in Suzhou. Full of eternal, poetic beauty, the manor is the one of the best garden-like private estate properties in Hangzhou. Chen Chongzhou, a modern architectural master on the art of landscape gardening, observes that the estate is the best garden on the West Lake in comparison with all other adjacent gardens. He identifies the Guo Estate concisely as the back view of the West Lake. |
Asia Travel 
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