When he came back from Afghanistan, his life fell apart. Now he’s putting it back together, one stone at a time – and helping other veterans do the same
Perched near the top of Mynyddislwyn mountain, overlooking the Sirhowy valley in Caerphilly, there is a castle. It’s not one of Wales’s grandest or most historically significant castles; in fact it’s probably the smallest and almost certainly the most recent. The story of how it came to be is an important one, however, not only to the man who built it, but to others as well.
How to reach it, though? It’s not on the map. Through the mist I can see it from the valley, the Welsh flag flying proudly above. As I climb towards it, into the trees, the castle soon disappears. There are plenty of dog walkers around to help with directions; everyone knows the castle, and it gets plenty of visitors. Round the edge of the woods, then, and over a stile, and there it is, high up on a grassy slope, just below a solar farm. A man named Keith greets me, holding a spade – this castle isn’t even finished. He says Mikey went down to the disused quarry to fetch more stone.
