Volunteers work to revive abandoned rural town

The town of Envall, in the Vall Fosca valley in rural north-western Catalonia, has a total of seven inhabitants.

It was abandoned for more than 30 years, but now a neighborhood cooperative group wants to recover the historic town by cleaning up some of its old structures and building new homes there.

For a week, a group of twelve volunteers from all over the country have taken part in a work camp to undertake these tasks and recover the town.

Building dry stone walls, the construction of six new homes by the EnvallCoop cooperative has been given the go-ahead.

The first thing that was recovered was a building that is currently the office of the Mountain Trades School and the accommodation for the group, Casa Bigodé.

The response to the call for volunteers was "very good," organizers say, with 12 people coming to take part in the tasks.

Maria Clara Grimalt, coordinator of the Mountain Trades School at Casa Bigodé, said those who have come "have come to help and learn."

The volunteers stay for free at Casa Bigodé in exchange for working from 9 am until 2 in the afternoon. Afterwards, the rest of the afternoons are free, where they can enjoy the landscape, nearby lake and rviers, culture or the tranquility of the valley, said Grimalt.