Welcome back to What I Own – Metro’s property series where we speak to homeowners about getting on the ladder. Last week, we chatted to 41-year-old Dr Muhommed Patel and 49-year-old Dr George Thomas Wood, who found their forever home in the depths of Hertfordshire for their blended family. This week, we’re in rural Wales visiting Mok O’Keeffe who, together with his husband, owns a ‘baby castle’ in the idyllic Brecon Beacons.
Here’s what Mok had to say about their property journey...
I am an LGBTQ+ historian and my PhD studies focus on the country house as a place of refuge for LGBTQ+ people. I share hidden history and my life in rural Wales on socials as @gayaristo. History has mostly been written by straight, white men, and the history of LGBTQ+ people has largely been ignored.
I am married to my husband Joe, a personal trainer, and we live with two dogs Percy and Chaucer in a baby castle in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales. Our house is just outside Abergavenny, in Monmouthshire. My husband is Welsh.
I have also spent the last twelve years visiting Wales and enjoyed summer holidays here as a child, so it was an easy decision to make it my adopted home when we moved here three years ago. Abergavenny is a thriving town – with an amazing food festival, lots of community activities and many independent shops. The high street is alive with coffee shops, a department store, an independent bookshop and lots of bakeries.
We are in the Brecon Beacons Nationa.