In the province of Lleida (Catalonia) on sale Vikfred ancient castle and water mill built in 1880, located in the municipality of La Coma i la Pedra. Castle for sale, along with a wine cellar, torture and 2-km long underground passage.
The owner of the castle Anthony Bosch bought it 18 years ago, a married couple of local aristocrats, who in turn bought it from the previous owners - the family who owned the castle for several centuries. Bosch was planning to turn it into a hotel with his children to continue the family business, but they refused the offer, and the owner decided to put the castle up for sale. "I paid dearly for it and sell it cheap" - Bosch regretted not calling, however, the current price of the castle.
This fortress was built as a watchtower, and the first mention of it dates back to 1079 in the documents of the year. In the XVIII century it was converted into a house, which is now surrounded by buildings erected over time near the fortress wall. The castle is open to visitors on the first Sunday of each month in the framework of Castells de Lleida. He belonged to the families of the Catalan world Ribeles Cardona and then ended up in the hands of the House of Medinaceli, which owned the castle up to the XIX century. It stopped King Philip V and Amadeus I of Savoy. Among the most interesting premises of the house - his winery, dungeons, where torture is carried out, as well as the secret passage length of 2 kilometers.
With regard to the old mill and a bakery in La Coma i la Pedra, they were built in 1880 and purchased by the architect Josep Barhuanom in 1990. He restored the building, preserving the original structure of the mill, as well as two wheels, turbine gear and apparatus for the cleaning of grain. "This is one of the few examples of industrial architecture, which used hydraulic power for grinding flour and enforcement mechanisms in place, which can be found along the river Cardener," - said Barhuan. The sale of the mill, he explains, "the restructuring of the family."
Roberto Menetray of consultancy Lançois Doval, specializing in luxury real estate in Spain, assured that the castles and palaces often put up for sale due to owner retirement or when they are received in the inheritance. Very rarely these operations are linked to the crisis. Palaces in small towns and in the interior of Spain to sell more complicated than on the coasts.
In turn, chairman of the Association of owners of castles and monuments of Catalonia Javier Gimeno said that the small number of transactions of this kind is not enough for the classical analysis of prices, supply and demand. "Such operations are time-consuming, and the new owners often overestimate life in the castle and eventually sell it" - warns Gimeno. "Just the heating is very expensive, and many kinds of works to the walls can not simply carry out" - said the expert.
