The Prince, who now jokes that he has “a stake in the country” has a portfolio of four properties that includes a BB (Casa Printului de Wales) in the town of Viscri and another in Zalanpatak.
Now Charles, who claims descent from Vlad the Impaler (the real life model for Dracula), has been credited with starting a mini tourist boom in this beautiful area.
Lucy Abel Smith, who runs a small travel company specialising in Central and Eastern Europe called Reality and Beyond (realityandbeyond.co.uk/01285 750 358) from her home in Gloucestershire, has likewise fallen under the spell of the region.
A friend of the Prince, she bought a crumbling house in Richis, an hour’s drive from Viscri, about 20 years ago which she has transformed into a comfortable holiday home. The house retains almost all its original features, such as the great wooden doors and ancient tiled fireplaces, and it is furnished in a traditional manner with many items sourced in the region.
“We are plum in the middle of Transylvania, in the Saxon area where a lot of houses were abandoned in the last century,” she says.
The Transylvanian Saxons, who were of German descent, were settlers in the region from the 12th century and they helped to defend its border with Hungary. In 1918, when the region became part of Romania, many fled to Austria and Germany and the exodus continued under Communist rule.
Lucy was alerted to the sale by The Mihai Eminescu Trust, a British-Romanian conservation charity, (mihaieminescutrust.org) which is working to preserve the unique character of the ancient Saxon villages and restore and revive their communities. Viscri, in particular, is now attracting international attention as an example of historic preservation and economic regeneration.
“We work with local people, train them in traditional skills and help them to find a good living here and be proud of the villages,” says Caroline Fernolend, vice president of the Trust. “We do not sell houses but sometimes people who have a house for sale let us know.”
One such seller is Alexander Franz (alexander. franz@smart-icon.com), who has two houses for sale including an unrestored medieval townhouse in Sighisoara priced at £265,360 (?320,000) which is a listed historic monument. Detailed restoration plans are available. The Trust also publishes a guide to guesthouses, walking and equestrian routes and has helped to introduce travel agents to the region.
Critically, it lobbied successfully for the relocation of a Dracula Theme Park, which had threatened to spoil the region’s character.