Buddha Maitreya, a 76-year-old former monk, has spent the last 35 years
of his life transforming a two-acre plot in the village of North
Clifton, Nottinghamshire, into a traditional Japanese garden.
With its cherry blossom, bamboo trees, pagoda and tranquil carp pond,
the stunning garden is a glorious slice of the mystical Far East...
which lies behind an ordinary looking house just a couple of
hundred yards from the A1133. As well as the oriental elements, he has
seamlessly blended in typically English favourites such as holly,
forsythia, primulas, aubretia and fir trees. He was born Koji Takeuchi
in Nagoya, Japan, to a noodle factory owner. But after rejecting
mainstream life, he changed his name and became a Buddhist monk. His
travels took him to Thailand, India and Nepal, where he taught mediation
for a couple of years, before a friend invited him to visit the UK,
where he paid £13,000 for the former farmhouse on the then weed-infested
plot of land. With no previous experience of gardening, he began the
huge task of transforming the grounds into something that would remind
him of his homeland but also include shrubs and flowers that would grow
easily in the British climate. 
Before
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