The Cumnock and District Progress Association now faces the task of finding a family for each of the four houses, which will be rented at $1 per week to tenants who volunteer to renovate them.

The scheme has been designed to boost Cumnock’s population of 298 people by 10 per cent.

The association believes this will help the village’s school, bus runs and retail businesses.

Among those who have applied are 16 nurses, 28 carpenters/cabinet makers, 18 online internet businesses and five childcare experts.

One application from a family with seven children said it would be “like winning the lotto” if they were accepted.

“We have such a large family and we are cooped up in a city area,” the applicant wrote.

Applications will be processed this month.

Successful families will be invited to watch a virtual tour of each farmhouse before the interviews and will be advised of the outcome in early December.

The people of Cumnock have been asked to donate equipment and materials for the renovations, with a kitchen, two stoves, a dishwasher, tiles and insulation bats already received.

Sixty per cent of the applicants are from the country originally and wish to return to a rural community.

“We dream of an opportunity where we can work more sustainable hours and live a simpler, cheaper lifestyle,” wrote one of the applicants.