A businessman in the UK who had declared bankruptcy has run into trouble after telling authorities that he had less than £500 ($A800) worth of possessions and was living in a shed. As it turns out, the shed was in fact a mansion in disguise.

The 61-year-old man, Alan Yeomans, had built a manor house out of a large barn in his mother’s backyard in Derbyshire in 2002 – without planning permission, and not visible from the road outside – and attempted to hide it with green cladding.

The six-bedroom home was build without planning permission. Photos: Derbyshire Police

The property has a sign out on the front gate declaring it as Shedley Manor, as shown in footage released by the Derbyshire police.

The house wasn’t the only thing being obscured. Inside the property the police discovered £83,000 worth of art, jewellery, antiques, designer shoes and marijuana which was being grown in a secret room, accessed by a door hidden behind a painting of a famous Elizabethan statesman, Robert Cecil.

Valuable antiques and artwork were found concealed inside the home. Photo: Derbyshire Police

A door was hidden behind a painting of Robert Cecil. Photo: Derbyshire Police

It was powered by stolen electricity which was “exceptionally dangerous and could very well have killed him”, according to Derbyshire Police’s Sergeant Jon Lowes.

Glen Wicks, who was head of the investigation, said he was very surprised that “someone built a six-bedroom manor house in the Peak District and filled it with fine art and antiques and the authorities didn’t know anything about it.”

Yeomans was sentenced to six and a half years’ jail over the weekend for crimes including money laundering, concealing criminal property and the production and supply of cannabis.

No word as yet as to what has happened to Shedley Manor.