A homeless and penniless Irishman has become one of Britain’s most eligible bachelors and has received numerous marriage proposals.

Mark Boyle, 31, from Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, has now lived for more than 18 months without a house or money  in the English wilderness as an experiment.

He is a former successful businessman who has put his old life behimd him and now lives in a caravan and scavenges for food in a forest near the town of Bath in southern England .

Despite his poor status he says he  can offer women the best thing of all — "adventure".

Mark said: "I am getting marriage proposals from complete strangers.

"And this has only happened since I gave up money.

"Having no money has led to me getting more attention than I have ever had.

"There are many women who are bored of being taken for dinner and I am certainly not going to be offering them that."

"I don’t need to keep fit in the gym after a day at the office because I farm and forage my own food," he said.

"I am happier now than I have ever been and that is all without money."

 He has just  written a book, The Moneyless Man, and he says proceeds will go to charity.