Good practice:

Castillo de Piedrabuena

Castle Piedrabuena (S. XIII) is located in the middle of an oakwood, the typical landscape of the Region of Extremadura. Heritage and nature are well connected in this rural region where a big portion of the territory is under environmental protection policies.
It is a private castle in good condition. The owner of the castle has reached an agreement with a local company that organizes various events, mostly weddings. Besides the event organization, the company takes care of other tasks such as advertising and the cleaning of the castle. The owner receives a fee for each event organised on site, depending on the size and characteristics of the event. The experience is satisfactory and profitable for both the owner and the service company.
As a result of this collaboration which started in 2013, the castle owners have managed to cover all the annual maintenance costs including taxes.
The company is specialized in organizing events in heritage and unique buildings, being part of its differentiation strategy, which has provided a good market positioning at regional level. A key factor in the success of this collaboration model is the specialization and professionalism of the service company.
The role of the administration in this case should be to favour, promote and facilitate, through local taxing schemes, and/or the Rural Development Programs the acces to this kind of win-win business models, taking into account the impact on heritage conservation and local business.

 Service companies interested to organize events in unique heritage buildings:

 Heritage owners willing to open their private spaces to the public
 Formal agreement (contract) between the castle owner and a catering company

 Service company:
o Market positioning: reference company at regional level
o National Awards obtained from sectoral organizations: Wedding Awards (www.bodas.net): 2017, 208, 2019
 Castle property:
o Full coverage of annual maintenance costs including taxes
o Excellent castle maintenance

 The definition of a collaboration model that is beneficial for both parties can be challenging
 A long-term economic feasibility of the collaboration can be also challenging
 The taxing schemes for castle ownersis threatening the economic feasibility of private castles: public taxing framewor

This good practice can be a reference model to other heritage owners across European regions, public or private.
The collaboration model is applicable to any European territory where castle owners are interested to open parts of their properties for public or private events, as means to obtain sufficient income to be able to ensure the building’s maintenance and sustainability.
This type of collaboration could benefit heritage assets facing financial difficulties, hereby supporting the rehabilitation and maintenance costs, thus providing a sustainable, long-term functioning model.