A tiny but stunning Spanish village is in the battle of a lifetime to save its small community.
While the village is only a few hours away from bustling Barcelona, Oliete which is hidden away in eastern Spain’s remote region of Teruel, with a minute population of around just 300 residents.
But despite its size, it boasts many attractions – from historical architecture such as Donjuana house, a Renaissance building located in the village’s church square, to Sima de San Pedro, an incredible 108-metre-deep cave.
And with all it has to offer, residents of the village have come up with an idea to attract more people to the area.
Olieta is abundant in Empeltre, an olive that originates in Spain and is often used to produce high-quality olive oil. Now, Olieta’s olive trees might be the only thing that can save the village’s community.
In a battle against depopulation, the village started ApadrinaUnOliva.org – the ‘adopt an olive tree’ project to encourage people across the globe to sponsor an olive tree for €60 (£49.65) per year. The sponsorship costs less for Spanish residents due to NGO tax deductions.
Over £58,000 from the money raised by sponsors has been used to transform a cow shed into a smart co-working area to attract digital nomads.
National and regional governments, as well as business groups, also supported the project, and in that 43 new jobs were created for the local residents.
The project has proven to work as the village was faced with an ageing population that was leading to the potential closing of the local school. When the Apradrinaunoliva.org project started, there were only three students, but now there are 27, aged between three and 11 years.
Sandra Mairal, aged 50, is one of the digital nomads who stays in Oliete.
She said: “I just love the slower pace of Life. You can just change your chip. I can work in the co-working place and look out across the village, which is always so much more peaceful.”
According to Teresa Sancho, who works with the village’s olive tree project, it has “about 8,000 sponsors” from Britain and other countries across Europe and America, with many of them travelling to the village to visit their trees.
