Di Spanish village wey dey on sale for €260,000

By Guy Hedgecoe

BBC News, Madrid

For anyone wey dey dream of selling up and moving to di kontri, how about to buy an entire village?

Salto de Castro, for north-western Spain, dey up for sale and di asking price na €260,000 (£227,000; $259,000).

E dey located on di border with Portugal for di province of Zamora and a three-hour drive from Madrid, Salto de Castro get many of di buildings you go expect to find for small Spanish town.

Dem include 44 homes, one hotel, one church, one school, one town swimming pool and even one barracks building wey used to be house to di civil guard.

But weti e no get it does not have are inhabitants. Salto de Castro don dey abandoned for more dan 30 years.

Di owner buy di village at di beginning of di 2000s, with di intention of converting am into a tourist spot.

However, di eurozone crisis prevent di plan.

"Di owner get di dream of having a hotel here but all of dem dey put on hold," Ronnie Rodríguez, of Royal Invest, the company representing di owner tok.

"E go still like di project to come true."

For di Idealista website wia di property dey listed, di owner, wey dey for im 80s, say "I dey sell becos I be urban-dweller and no fit maintain di upkeep" of di village.

E don attract interest, with more dan 50,000 visits since dem list am a week ago at dat price.

Mr Rodríguez say 300 pipo don express an interest in buying, with inquiries from Russia, France, Belgium and the UK.

One potential buyer don already put money down to reserve am, e tok.

Na di electricity generation company Iberduero Salto de Castro bin build di house for families of di workers wey build di reservoir next door, from di early 1950s.

But di inhabitants move comot afta dem complete am and di village come become totally abandoned in di late 1980s.

Di area surrounding am na part of wetin don become known as "emptied Spain" - rural area wit few population wey lack many of di services wey pesin go find inside towns and cities.

Salto de Castro bi don dey up for sale before, for as much as €6.5m.

However, with no buyers and many of di buildings wey don dey vandalised, di price don go down.

Di asking price of €260,000 dey enough only for one-bedroom apartment for top areas of Madrid or Barcelona.

But di eventual buyer of Salto de Castro go need get deep pockets, at least in order to attract visitors.

According to Idealista: "Di investment wey dey required in order to make di village 100% workable and to become profitable no go pass €2m."