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Right, who's got €2.4 million spare and fancies becoming a castle owner? Because Perín Castle, one of the more unexpected gems of the Cartagena countryside, has just popped up on the market and it's begging for someone with a bit of imagination and a very healthy bank balance.

 

Officially called Castillo del Pinar but known to everyone as Castillo de Perín after the district it sits in, this is a proper modernist mansion built in the Gaudí-influenced style that was all the rage at the end of the 19th century. We're talking 524 square metres of castle, set within a frankly enormous 83,000 square metre estate, and breathtaking views of the Mar Menor.

 

Inside, it's spread across three floors. The first floor has its own apartment, a bathroom and a terrace that takes full advantage of those Mar Menor views. The ground floor currently does duty as the dining rooms and kitchen for what has been operating as a restaurant, and downstairs in the basement there are five bedrooms, a bathroom, two toilets and a hallway leading out to the garden.

 

As for what you could actually do with it, the listing isn't short on ideas. Keep it as a restaurant, turn it into a rural tourism venture, set up a campsite on the grounds, or, in the words of the listing itself, "why not live in the Castle." Honestly, fair point.

 

What really sets this place apart, though, is the history behind it. The building started life as part of the operations of a British company supplying drinking water to Cartagena, back before the city was connected to the Taibilla Canals system. The company went through a couple of name changes, starting out as The Carthagena Water Works before becoming The Carthagena Mining and Water Co. Ltd, and was linked to the British consul in Cartagena at the time, Charles Broker Walter.

 

At some point it also passed into the hands of a Swedish consul stationed in the city, which is quite the international pedigree for a building tucked away in Perín. It was designed by architects Tomás Rico and Francisco de Paula Oliver.

 

Over the decades since, the castle has played host to an enormous number of celebrations, everything from family lunches to baptisms, communions and weddings, all set against a backdrop that looks like something out of another era.

 

So if you've ever fancied telling people you live in a castle in Spain, this might just be your moment. €2.4 million and it's yours.

 

For more local news, events and visiting information go to the Cartagena section of Murcia Today.

 

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