A HISTORY fan bought a mini-castle for £1m – only to discover the previous owner was buried in the garden under the cherry tree she had planted as a child, reports AMY REAST of SWNS.

Mok O'Keeffe, 55, purchased his five-bedroom Elizabethan castle in Llanvihangel Crucorney near Abergavenny in 2021 with husband Joe Magle, 37.

Mok researched the history of Grade II-listed Twr Mihangel before moving in, learning it had once been a school, as well as a WWII prisoner of war camp.

But he didn't learn until later that Gladys Atkins, born around 1898, requested her ashes be buried in a cherry tree in the garden of her childhood home when she passed away in 1995, aged 97.

The tree – now half-dead – still stands in the garden, and Mok says he and Joe bid Gladys a good morning each day.

Mok, an inclusion consultant and historian, said they'll never remove the tree stump – because "it's our home, but it will always be her home too".

"When I heard we had a woman buried in our garden, I wasn't freaked out. I actually thought it was amazing – Gladys wanted to stay at this property forever.

"I say hello to her every morning and I find something about it quite calming and beautiful.

"People have told me they'd never buy a house with someone buried in the garden – but I love it."

The miniature castle, built in the late 1500s, has five bedrooms, three sitting rooms, two kitchens, four bathrooms, four hallways, a stables, a topiary garden and a paddock on its two acres of land.

Mok and Joe even inherited titles with it – and are now Lords of Glynbach.

The property has a rich history, and is rumoured to be inhabited by ghosts of previous owners, but they embrace it.

Mok said: "When you own a historic building, you don't really own it. You're just a custodian, until you pass it onto the next owner... it's about protecting and preserving it."

It only came to light that Galdys was born in the castle when Mok started looking into doing work on the garden, and asked why the tree stump hadn't been cut down.

He was told as a child, Gladys had planted the cherry tree herself – and after her parents died, she lived in it with husband Herbert.

The castle’s long history even includes being used as a village school in the 1870s, and a prisoner of war camp.

"There's a presence in the house, a feeling of history and past lives. But it's a good feeling,” adds Mok.

"When I first moved in, I told the ghosts 'you've been here longer than me, I'm just passing through –let's get along'.

"I feel that they're here with us, but we've never had any problems."

Mok said having a woman buried in his back garden crops up in games of 'two truths and a lie' – and fools everyone when it turns out to be true.

"We'll honour Gladys and never cut down the tree. She wanted to spend eternity here – and maybe I'd like my ashes buried here too."