To live in a farmhouse loaded with history in exchange for fixing it

EnglishHistorically in Catalonia, masovers were peasant families who lived in a farmhouse that did not belong to them in exchange for working the land, feeding the livestock, and guarding the property. However, for some years now, a new form of masoveria adapted to modern times has emerged: masovers are responsible for rehabilitating and renovating a dilapidated farmhouse that is not their property and, in return, can live there for years without paying rent. This formula of mutual exchange allows families who do not have the necessary resources to fulfill their dream of living in the countryside, while at the same time preventing ancestral homes, often inherited, from deteriorating and a valuable architectural heritage from being lost. A true win-win. win-win in every way.

Ona Font and Xavier Munill, a dynamic couple of biologists from La Selva, have been living with their two children for three and a half years under this contract arrangement at Can Comarodona, a farmhouse two kilometers from Anglès. When they moved in, the house had been abandoned for five years and was not habitable, but within a few months, they were already living there with basic comforts.

"When we first saw it, there were no window frames, there was a colony of bats, and a lot of dirt. There was no water because the well pump had burned out and the electrical installation was hanging by a thread," recalls Ona. Nevertheless, after an intense summer of work, they moved in in September. "At first, we all lived in a single room, with a small stove in the kitchen and a mosquito net on the window. It looked like a campsite." 

It is now perfectly conditioned, with a very polished rustic air and traditional decoration. The kitchen, spacious and presided over by a large table, has become the center of family life, as has the library with more than 2,000 books, where both of them telework. They have two dogs, a donkey and bees.

The Farmhouse Hunter

They arrived at this opportunity thanks to the Mas i Terra Foundation, driven by Marta Lloret, deeply committed to the dissemination and preservation of Catalan rural heritage. The entity acts as a bridge between farmhouse owners and people interested in becoming masovers (caretakers/tenants). Unlike a conventional rental agreement, where the conditions are primarily set by the owner, in modern masoveria, both parties agree on the duration of the agreement based on the works to be done and the money, materials, and work hours that will need to be invested.

In the case of Ona and Xavier, they signed a fifteen-year renewable agreement, with a symbolic rent that increases every five years. The renovation plan does not have to be followed to the letter and can be adapted according to emerging needs, but the structure of the original house materials must be respected, without using plasterboard or cement.

700 years of history

Investing so much time and money in a home without owning it responds to a life philosophy that goes far beyond the business of buying and selling apartments and houses in the city. This is how Ona argues it: "Thinking that you don't have to restore a house because it's not yours seems like a very selfish view. We have chosen this option because we are interested in being part of the history of a heritage that is seven hundred years old. We can say that we have taken care of the house, that we have helped to preserve it, and that we have lent a hand to an owner who did not have the resources to maintain it. No one can take that away from us, it has allowed us to live in a way that is very consistent with our values".

The hard work has already been done, but they still have a lot of tasks left. "A friend has been living in a farmhouse for three generations and they still have things to fix, so patience," concludes Xavier. Now they are mainly working on the forest management of the surrounding area, fire prevention, the recovery of old fields, and the rehabilitation of adjacent buildings that were once stables and corrals.