When Malcolm Applegate left his wife, he didn’t do it in the traditional manner. He didn’t file for a divorce, pack his belongings, and move away. For that matter, he didn’t even tell anyone he was leaving. He just left and never came home.

The 62-year-old man from Birmingham, England, says he met his wife and married not long after meeting her. They were married three years before Applegate became unhappy with his wife’s incessant nagging. He had worked as a gardener in Farnborough for 25 years, but his wife became tired of his gardening profession. He says the more clients he got, the more hours he worked, and the angrier she became. She was controlling and didn’t like him to be away from the house for long periods of time, despite Applegate’s growing business and the clients he had to take care of.

One day, Applegate decided he just couldn’t do it any longer. He left his home and everything he had behind, and he moved to the thick woods near Kingston, southwest of London. He stayed hidden in the woods for an entire decade. He never had contact with his wife, or even the rest of his family. He worked as a gardener for a local community center for the elderly and says he enjoyed that very much.

Applegate had no intention of leaving the woods and the gardening job at the community center until one day a friend told him about the Emmaus Greenwich Center. Emmaus Greenwich is a homeless shelter in southern London that allows homeless people to stay there as long as they need to if they are willing to do meaningful work in the social enterprise. Applegate decided that Emmaus Greenwich might be a good move for him, so he applied to live there and moved in almost immediately.

While living at the shelter, Applegate came out of the woods, so to speak, about his previous life. His escape to the woods due to an over-nagging wife and how he arrived at Emmaus Greenwich. Applegate says he’s not picky about the jobs he does at Emmaus Greenwich and is just happy to be there. His day to day includes doing chores in the shop, driving the van, and even a bit of gardening. He says he just likes to be working.

Since coming to Emmaus Greenwich, he’s also reunited with his sister, whom he hadn’t talked to in the decade he’d been living in the woods. Applegate says he wrote her a letter once he got settled into his new home, and she called him a short time later. “She thought I was dead,” says Applegate. The two have reconnected and visit with each other regularly these days.

Applegate has also become active in helping the homeless community. He frequently sponsors walks through London to raise money for the charity that he says gave him his life back. One walk through London brought in almost 300 Pounds. Not bad for a 62-year-old man, says Applegate. He wants the people that donate to know that he is grateful for the second chance he got at life and that Emmaus Greenwich played a huge part in that opportunity.

What are your thoughts about Malcolm Applegate’s story? Is he justified in leaving his nagging wife to find happiness in the woods?