Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Village people: why owning your own town is the new private island

You could own the pub, the spa and even the church for less than a London house, says Ailis Brennan

When fictional millionaire Johnny Rose purchased a town named Schitt’s Creek as a birthday present for his son, the world laughed at what seemed like little more than a ludicrous sitcom premise.

But while Netflix viewers chuckled, property magnates were nodding in sage appreciation. In a socially distanced world, where better to call home than your very own town or village? It’s a tempting prospect, and not quite as ridiculous – or rare – a purchase as you might expect.

Just ask Johnny Depp. After 20 years (intermittently) living the Provençal life, the Hollywood star is reportedly preparing to sell the 19th-century village he owns in France, situated just a stone’s throw from A-list hotspot Saint-Tropez. Having spent a reported $10 million (£7.2 million) renovating the dinky hamlet’s historic stone and wood-beamed buildings, Depp is now said to have put an asking price of $55.5 million on the sprawling estate, which boasts its own private restaurant, a church-turned-guest house, town square, skate park and wine cave – only open to Depp’s guests, of course.

Hamlet haven: Johnny Depp is reportedly selling his 19th-century French village


As “private village” becomes the new private island, Kanye West chose the 4,500-acre Monster Lake Ranch for his pandemic bolthole. While it is unclear quite how much of the sweeping Wyoming estate the rapper bought in 2019, the $14 million ranch features a saloon, working horse barn, restaurant, shooting range, office building and two fishing lakes.

Pandemic bolthole: Kanye West’s 4,500 acre ranch in Wyoming


Closer to home, Ed Sheeran’s growing property complex near his hometown of Framlingham has been dubbed “Sheeranville”, with the singer gradually acquiring or building four houses, a pub, a recording studio, fruit orchard and more. In 2019, he submitted planning permission to add a “place of worship”.

With business rather than leisure in mind, Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX is on the verge of buying the entire village of Boca Chica in Texas, a 40-home community that Musk plans to turn into a launch site and “resort” – if he can convince the last few stubborn residents to leave. Similarly futuristic are the plans of R&B singer Akon (aka “Mr Lonely”) to build Akon City, a cryptocurrency-centric, solar-powered public utopia in Senegal. The plan is backed by the country’s government and Akon laid the first stone in September.

Buy your own Schitt’s Creek

It’s the little things: Almost all the houses in the Welsh village of Aberllefenni are on sale as one lot

If you’re not one of the world’s richest men, but just moderately wealthy, it’s still possible to own your own town. Headlines have swirled in recent years around empty villages in Italy and Spain selling off properties for as little as €1. In 2018, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Christmas gift guide included a complete Galician hamlet listed at £134,837. An attractive prospect indeed, but these abandoned towns are invariably in need of some significant financial investment to make them much more than habitable (remember what Depp spent on his…).

If you’re not looking for such a big job, consider Aberllefenni. Almost all the houses in this Welsh village (16, to be precise) are for sale as one lot, with a current all-in asking price of £1.15 million.

“The process is very much the same as any other sale, but you’ve just got more properties in one block,” says estate agent Dafydd Hardy, who is overseeing the sale of the tenanted homes, built for workers at the nearby slate mine.

“We’ve had a mix of interest: individuals, companies with property portfolios that are a bit unusual, local people as well as people from away looking at it for investment purposes, and community groups too.”

Picture-perfect: Sätra Brunn, a 320-year-old spa village in Sweden, is on the market for £6m


A bit higher end is the 320-year-old Swedish spa village of Sätra Brunn on sale for a fairly affordable £6 million.

“I believe it’s the biggest village I’ve ever seen on the market for the last 15-20 years,” says Christie’s agent Jonas Martinsson, of the picture-perfect town. “It has a daycare, a hotel, your own spring-water well, your own church and all this history.”

But, as ever, with great power comes great responsibility. Having housed a university department before being passed on to an ownership group who vowed to preserve it and support the community, there is a diverse set of interests and cultural concerns to take into account by any new owner.

“The opportunity and the problem with this village is that it has four different legs to stand on,” says Jonas. “You have a hotel, spa area, rent outs and a conference centre – and not all people who are interested want to work with all this.”

Dafydd Hardy concurs. “Aberllefenni suits someone with a conscience, in the sense that you would want to retain it as it is.”

“Would Johnny Depp want to buy it? I’m not so sure.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×