Architect Zarinan Gurrie designed the renovation at 5-17 Oakden Rd, Drysdale.\

OWNERS of a Drysdale property have taken their love affair with Japanese design to the next level, studying garden design at Kyoto University before creating their own Zen paradise on the Bellarine Peninsula.

The couple have turned their 2ha property into a tranquil Asian-inspired retreat with views of Corio Bay just moments from the centre of town.

A renovated mid-century modern house designed by architect Zarinan Gurrie is the centrepiece of 5-17 Oakden Rd, Drysdale.

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Surrounded by four Japanese gardens, undulating lawns and groves of mature pines, oak trees and gums, the sprawling main house is complemented by a bluestone studio, currently used as a pilates clinic, that could be a guesthouse or home business.

Bellarine Property, Barwon Heads agent Lee Martin has listed the property with price hopes of $3.9 million to $4.2 million.

Mr Martin said the owners had poured their heart and soul into the property, travelling to Kyoto to study an intensive course in landscape design.

The bluestone studio could be guest accommodation or a home clinic.

“That is commitment, when you like the style of something, not to only pay someone to do it, but to go and study it themselves,” he said.

“I think it started because they loved a lot of Japanese artefacts, lanterns and also stone statues, there’s a lot of these around the garden.”

He said the acreage property was horse-centric when the vendors bought it decades ago and came with the bluestone barn and established gums which they paired back in keeping with the Japanese style.

Stone lanterns feature throughout the garden.

Four separate Japanese gardens can be found at the property.

They originally built a classic flat-roofed house there in the 1960s or 1970s. It’s since been transformed with the extensive renovation that has created two large, light-filled pavilions at either end of the house.

One is home to a open-plan living area with large cedar windows framing the garden view and the other a large main bedroom suite with an ensuite bathroom overlooking a Japanese garden.

The floorplan also include two further bedrooms, a study and an expansive north-facing deck.

Even the impressive double front door is a nod the Japanese influence with decorative corten steel plates and hand-forged knockers.

The large main bedroom has beautiful garden views.

The living room has exposed brick feature walls.

Castlemaine slate pavers and imported Japanese grinding wheels form paths through the garden, which features coral bark and Japanese maples, weeping cherry blossoms, stone lanterns and pagoda.

“You step in that property and you could be in Lake Tahoe in the US or you could be in a rural part of Japan,” Mr Martin said.

“It’s very private, you don’t see anyone else, you don’t hear anyone else; it does not feel like you’re on the Bellarine Peninsula.”

Expressions of interest close on November 14 at 4pm.