Off-grid man, 63, loses everything as yurt home ‘burned to ground’ weeks after near-fatal blood clot

A 63-year-old living off-grid in the Sussex countryside was told his yurt home burned to the ground and exploded just weeks after he suffered a near-fatal blood clot.

Mark Mansbridge, from Lewes, was rushed to the Royal Sussex County Hospital on February 11 after collapsing with a blood clot near his heart.

He was “nearly a goner”, but two weeks later his woes were compounded when farmers owning the land he has called home for the last three years informed him his off-grid Mongolian yurt was on fire.

Mark said a friend had lit a fire in the stove to stop his home from getting damp while he was in hospital, but an ember jumped out and started a blaze that eventually reached his home’s gas tanks – which “blew sky high”, destroying the tent along with almost all of his possessions.

A homelessness charity worker who has spent his career helping people in vulnerable positions, Mark is now “ironically” on the council homeless list himself, living in emergency accommodation and relying on the “lovely support” of friends.

A GoFundMe page, set up by his friend Helen to raise money for an eventual rebuild of Mark’s off-grid life, has amassed more than £7,000 from 200 donors.

“It’s heartbreaking to lose all my treasures,” Mark told PA Real Life.

“But in the grand scheme of things, it’s nothing compared to feeling good, being healthy, having friends, and all the rest of it.

“I certainly don’t feel I’m taking anything for granted at the moment. It all feels super special.”

Mark was house sitting for a friend when he went to bed feeling “very strange” and “breathless” on February 10.

“In the morning, I found myself feeling very dizzy and disorientated, and I had to go down the stairs on my bum to get to the kitchen,” he said.

“I went to get a glass of water from the sink, and next thing I knew, I was flat on the floor.”

Mark had been unconscious for a while and came to surrounded by broken crockery.

He crawled through the house looking for his phone, drifting “in and out of consciousness” and struggling to breathe through the pain in his lungs.

“I tried shouting out the front door – I couldn’t actually raise my voice; it was like in a nightmare when you can’t speak,” he said.

After dialling 999, Mark lay “frozen rigid” waiting for an ambulance.

“When they arrived, I was this shivering, gasping heap on the floor – they straight away intervened and tried to stabilise me,” he said.

Despite years as a keen cyclist, conquering a 1,500km journey from the north coast to the south coast of Spain for charity just last year, Mark was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism – a blood clot that had travelled dangerously close to his heart.

His sister Ruth, a former nurse, went “deathly quiet” upon seeing Mark’s ECG, telling him he was “nearly a goner”.

“It was quite humbling to realise how close it had been,” Mark said.

Despite being “very fit” and thinking the clot was “a couch potato condition”, doctors informed Mark pulmonary embolisms are “quite prevalent” amongst elite athletes so his cycling may have been the cause.

Mark said: “It felt like fingers squeezing my lungs. It was a really painful, uncomfortable situation, but it feels like they’re releasing, day by day.”

After a few nights in hospital, Mark was discharged and told he should stay with friends instead of returning to his six-metre-wide yurt on a farm on the outskirts of Lewes.

Mark has lived in his imported Mongolian yurt for three years. He was motivated to start living off grid five years ago, after feeling “trapped in the wheel” of mortgages and bills.

“Before that, I was kind of normal,” he said.

“It’s probably my mid-life crisis, rather than buying a fast car.”

Compounding his health woes, on February 26, just two weeks after his collapse, Mark received a phone call from the farm owners telling him the yurt was on fire.

“I went straight online and found reports locally of this blaze out there,” he said.

“It was absolutely burned to the ground.

“The gas tanks blew sky-high – apparently, they could hear the bang on the north side of Lewes.”

It turned out a friend had gone over to light a fire that morning, to keep out the damp while Mark was recovering.

Mark said: “A spark might have pinged out of an open door on the stove.

“It must have smouldered all day in there, and then for whatever reason, it took off in the evening.

“I didn’t feel any anger or blame towards her; it’s just a terrible accident.”

Nevertheless, Mark was “absolutely devastated” and lost “everything”, including his tools and bike gear, treasures from his travels, “lovely bits of art”, and “a really ancient [teddy] bear”.

The yurt had been fully equipped with plush rugs, solar panels, heating, and a “glamping kitchen” complete with a cooker and a shower.

“It was quite beautiful out there, like a little oasis,” Mark said, reflecting on his destroyed home.

“It was in the corner of a meadow on a farm, with a little coppice of trees behind it. My immediate neighbours there were badgers.”

“A little army of friends went out on the Saturday after the fire, and they totally cleared the site… I’m hoping the badgers are pleased, they got their land back now.”

Mark said he has been overwhelmed by the community support he has received, with friends visiting him in hospital, offering places to sleep, and bringing him food.

“I felt like the Maharaja, lying on my pillows being served for a few days,” he said.

“It’s been very heartwarming, just how nice people are.

“These days, we’re almost told to be suspicious of each other. But when you get into it, people are actually altruistic and very kind.”

The landowners have said Mark can rebuild his off-grid life on the plot in some form, but he is unsure whether his presence would be welcomed by neighbouring farmers.

He said: “I had quite a good connection with all the locals out there, so we’ll see how it goes.

“I probably need to throw them another barbecue or something and sound them all out.”

Mark’s GoFundMe fundraiser can be found at: gofundme.com/f/mark-mansbridge