spainrico

Wow the stats from Galicia are very disheartening - such a shame.

Yes the high percentage of Spanish flat dwellers has been linked to the high volume of Covid cases - living in close proximity, touching the same front door handles, life buttons etc etc. I guess this came about with the mass exodus to the cities in 60/70s. Typically I think the Spaniards love their pisos - fairly secure, easy maintenance and lock the door and go out which of they do/did a lot.

Yes I guess there are some cheap village areas in UK - I have been watching to much BBC Escape to the Country! (usually high priced areas)

Interesting discussion - thanks to all for contributing....

Moses2013

On the positive side all these abandoned villages mean nature can recover and do we really have to be everywhere is my thought? At least there are options for those who want the simple life, more space and don't have a huge budget but don't expect to have all the services one is used to. As scot47 mentioned, you see similar in other countries like Bulgaria and even France. It's often Brits who have this romantic vision of France and buy an old ruin in the middle of nowhere and a few years later they complain about the lack of services in area.

Chipmonk

Unlike the Brits the Spanish do not like the idea of living in remote little villages. For many Spanish people this was a lifestyle that their grandparents endured and is consequently perceived as hard, old fashioned and un modern. It's unlikely that this generation of Spanish will.locate to these places. They eventually wither and die I'm afraid.

spainrico

Yes good point 'rewilding' I think is the in word.

And yes modern generation not so inclined but maybe as they become disenchanted with large companies, inner cities, mortgage problems etc they might return - especially if they can inherit property.

Buy yes I guess many will wither and die.

steviedeluxe

Yep. When you talk about a harsh climate it means very cold in winter as well as the summer heat. I don't suppose many Brits brought up with central heating would tolerate life in a Castilian village in winter. I'm sure I couldn't, and as a kid we had frost on the inside of windows as we didn't have central heating. There is often a good reason why people abandon a village.

Nand

We've spent a good deal of time looking ( 10 years ) in the more remote areas of Italy, Spain and Portugal. The biggest problems we faced were fast enough internet for remote work, adequate heating and access to food near enough for reasonable existance. There are some lovely, beautiful places in this world, but living there, as much as we were very agreeable for making the sacrifices, were not sustainable over the long term.

If we thought any of thoseareas were ever going to become sustainable we might have considered making a go of it and then selling in future, however, after doing extensive real time living research there hasn't been any hope that those areas will ever be recovered as sustainable with even minimal infra structure. Squaters living on weeds, wood stoves dependent on someone in a community heading down a mountain once a month for necessities, well, that sort of life we did see in italy, and it was not for us.

Small remote villages in Italy have vegetable and bread vans that came two times or once a week. No internet or such a low speed it was barely even useable for anything, much less dependable for work. But very remote rural places will not have even have electricity, postal or delivery services.

Portugal had fairly large villages without decent food shops or vans coming in at all. So unless you have excellent gardening and canning skills and can sustain yourselves on savings, probably not a great dream to follow imo.

By the way, Galicia is interesting. Just be aware that the temperatures in the far North west are warm and mild. This warmish mild climate grows a lot of mold and dank odours in plaster and under wood furniture and under wood interior features such as cupboards and the wooden moulding And paneling. It is an odour that isvery hard to stomach. Many adorable plastered over brick houses with antique furniture are ruined and not able to be restored to eliminate this smell. Gardening there is of course very easy because of the damp, anything will grow with little effort. We looked and looked for a house near Viviero and further in Xove, all around that area, and every one of them knocked us over with the pongue. The people are very nice in Galicia and you could probably buy a complete village for less than a shed would cost in uk.

Happy hunting, I hope you find something sustainable, it probably will be a bit of search.

spainrico

Italy offering homes for 1€

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/article...uro-home-italy

spainrico

Back in the news

https://www.euronews.com/2020/12/30/...al-ghost-towns