Farmhouses

Maintenance

“Currently, anyone who owns a farmhouse has a problem,” says Joan Maluquer, president of the Mas i Terra Foundation, an organisation that works to raise awareness of the cultural heritage of farmhouses and has collaborated with various councils to make a catalogue of them. “If the owners don’t have the necessary income to invest, they have a big problem. We’re not talking about a small flat, but about buildings that need to be maintained,” he adds.

The foundation currently has a catalogue of some 6,000 farmhouses, the result of work that was carried out prior to the 2008 crisis, when grants were available for local councils to collect this information. “Both the Catalan Association of Municipalities and the Federation of Municipalities of Catalonia were asked to make catalogues or resolve situations in which it was difficult to catalogue farmhouses,” explains Maluquer.

Since the approval of the 2002 Town Planning Act (and the legal framework that has followed it), Catalan town councils are supposed to have inventoried all of their farmhouses. According to data from 2019, however, only 44.6% of municipalities – or 442 – had done so. The highest percentage is in the Girona counties (65.4% of municipalities have a catalogue) and in Central Catalonia (57.6%), while the lowest is in Terres de l’Ebre (21.2%). Therefore, no exact figures are available on how many farmhouses there are in Catalonia, or in the Catalan Countries as a whole, let alone what state they are in. What the Mas i Terra Foundation did at the time was to at least standardise criteria. “In many cases, our teams made the report that the councils needed to comply with the Town Planning Act, but at the same time we also compiled our own more exhaustive file, with architectural, urban, historical data on services,” says Maluquer, noting the case of the municipality of Navès, in the Solsonès region, which, with a population of under 300 inhabitants, has over 230 listed farmhouses.

Aside from confirming how many there are and their condition, the farmhouse catalogue is also supposed to ensure that, if refurbishing work is carried out, nothing untoward takes place. Sadly, this is not always the case . “Doing it badly takes the same as doing it well, and we need to provide more information on how to do it well. To give an example, to protect from the cold, farmhouses had just the right openings, especially where the sun hits. However, we’re seeing many renovations where people want to open up new windows, and also horizontally, when they were always done vertically,” Maluquer adds. The president of the Mas i Terra Foundation believes that, as in many other spheres, mimicry is also thriving here, for both the good and the bad, and therefore if the work is done properly, a lot of heartache will be avoided.

A touch of modernity

Joan Curós holds a PhD in architecture and is a Professor of Architectural Projects at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. An expert in Catalan rural architecture, he believes that there is a questionable aspect to putting farmhouses on the list, due to subsequent restrictions on work that can be done. “Bringing a touch of modernity to the traditional is not an aberration, as long as it’s done with good judgement. Nor does everything that needs to be rehabilitated have to be a clone of what was already there, you have to take the whole into account and see how it can be improved, respecting the spirit of this kind of discreet architecture,” he says. Curós emphasises the naturalness of the landscape around these buildings as another simple element, but one with great cultural value.

“In recent years, there has been a lot of over-mimicry, repeating what was already there instead of interpreting it with new construction techniques. What made sense years ago doesn’t make sense today, and may in fact have deteriorated these farmhouses. There are also those who have adapted to current needs, with the growth of new buildings, such as farms and complementary buildings without optimal articulation. There are various examples of erratic casuistry, complemented by the serious problem of abandonment,” he laments.

Shaping the country

Although many farmhouses have been largely forgotten for decades, since architectural renovation usually focuses on large monuments, they are now attracting more and more attention because they are seen to spur the re-population of the countryside. “These settlements give structure to and humanise the rural landscape. They create a network of linking roads, and bring a certain order to the pastures and farmland. Farmhouses have unfortunately fallen into disrepair, but they are also a heritage that we should take great care over, as they are far more than simply the homes of those who used to live there,” insists Curós.

A way of living

The disappearance of farmhouses is directly linked to the disappearance of the traditional peasantry and their lifestyle. “Living in the countryside is not easy, you can make adaptations to the building, but that doesn’t solve everything. In the past, there was no need for the type of travel and communication we have now, people made their living in a small environment and had their basic needs covered,” Curós remarks.

This has changed, and many of these buildings have been abandoned, whether second homes, rural tourism houses, restaurants, hotels or holiday homes, with all that that entails in terms of changes within their structure. “Continuing the activity linked to the land, to agricultural and livestock activities, using the same historical model is economically unsustainable. Today, this type of activity is nothing like it was years ago, when people could live from a little land and a small number of animals. Now everything has been industrialised, there has been exponential growth both in terms of volume in livestock farming and increasing land area. And there’s no generational handover. Young people want to live as comfortably as possible and life in the countryside is not comfortable,” the architect says.

The new generation

Maluquer stresses that the issues associated with living in a farmhouse should not be underestimated. “The problems that can arise should not be hidden, it’s not the same living in one in the 19th century as it is now. For example, we’re used to having certain water needs met. It’s one thing to have a well and go and get the water you need to eat and drink, but it’s another to have a bunch of washing machines,” he notes. With regard to electricity, it is possible to install solar panels, but there are still many issues that need to be addressed, such as drainage for sewage. There used to be “dead wells”, but now we need to make septic tanks suitable for the amount of detergent we use.

Ultimately, there are many issues to consider before moving into a farmhouse. That is why the Mas i Terra Foundation has just launched the Masiaire initiative, which puts owners in contact with potential leasers, providing both parties with advice so that a modern farming project can be successful. Two of the participants are Marta Lloret, known on social media as the “Farmhouse Hunter” (see interview on following pages) and Alessandro Ranocchi, a young farmhouse leaser who, together with three colleagues, has rehabilitated a farmhouse in Juià (Gironès) in exchange for living there rent-free for six years.

“Marta Lloret has gained the trust of many homeowners who may be interested in this formula. We want to take advantage of her reputation on the networks to put her in touch with people who are considering working as farmhouse leasers,” explains Maluquer. The aim of Masiaire is to influence the recovery of historical and architectural values, preventing buildings from disappearing, and looking for an alternative model of access to housing to help repopulate the local areas. “The entire population is concentrated on the coast and in the metropolitan area. If we manage to get people in the countryside, there will be immediate improvements. They’ll improve access, perhaps help clear forests and prevent fires... But they don’t necessarily have to do agricultural work. What they need is good connections,” says Maluquer.

The Brigel Project

Therefore, new farmhouse leasers will not take care of the land and livestock of a farm as they used to, but will refurbish the farm and take care of it. And that is where Alessandro Ranocchi’s experience comes into play. “Masiaire is a word that was used by Verdaguer and means ’farmer’. The aim of this project is to have more farmhouse leasers following our model and to train them, to help them bring the farmhouses back to life so this heritage is not lost,” he explains.

Ranocchi and his colleagues – Gala, Pau and Marc – decided to look for an alternative housing formula to become independent. They wanted to have space and live near Girona, where they study and work. It was hard for them, but in the end they found Can Brigel, which had closed down fifty-two years previously. Its owner was willing to let them live there without paying rent in exchange for making it livable and maintaining it. With the help of family and friends, and with the advice of an architect’s office, they have refurbished the building themselves using traditional techniques. There was so much dirt in some rooms that plants were growing there; it was a lot of hard work, they say. However, they are now able to live there and they say that the result has been so gratifying that they think it is worth imitating, which is the reason why Alessandro joined the Masiaire project. “There are farmhouses that are being lost due to debt, disputes, inheritances... These kinds of leasing contracts can prevent that,” he says.