Many dream of owning a holiday home in France - but what about a whole hamlet?
Courbefy, which is located in Limousin and about 450km south-west of Paris, was put up for auction with an asking price of £275,000 (Dh1.5 million) last month. At the time, it did not attract any bidders.
But the mortgage holder, Crédit Agricole, intends to put it to auction again, and the signs are much more promising this time around.
Since news of the sale was reported globally, the tiny French village has been swarming with potential buyers, and the office of the mayor in the next village has been fielding calls as far afield as Qatar and China, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Interested buyers include a group of college friends who promised to live in a commune together, retirees and others scouting for locations for a film set and studio, AP said.
"It's a real media phenomenon, it's crazy," Bernard Guilhem, the mayor of Saint Nicolas Courbefy, just down the hill from Courbefy, told AP. "It's a big snowball that everyone wants to push."
So what will the new owner get for their money? A tennis court, swimming pool, horse stable, several acres of land and 19 buildings, minus the wiring, tiles and light bulbs, which have largely been stripped.
However, the rustic buildings have retained their large fireplaces and wooden beams, while a stainless steel stove has been left behind in a restaurant kitchen.
The hamlet dates back at least 1,800 years, and was once home to Jeanne d'Albret, the mother of the French king Henry IV.
Rural depopulation during the 18th and 19th centuries led to a steady decline in the number of people living in the hamlet. By the 1960s, only four houses remained, according to Le Parisien newspaper. The last couple to live in the hamlet are believed to have left in the 1970s.
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