I've been looking on the forum and read some very good posts about life in Bulgaria but nothing will ever beat the reality of trying it at first hand which then led me to think Why not take it a step further. For example does anyone offer the option to stay with a Bulgarian/English family in a small town or village in Bulgaria. it will acquaint those thinking of buying with everyday life of the contemporary Bulgarians and the expats with their hopes and problems that they face every day. They would also get a feel of the warmth of Bulgarians and their hospitality.They could be shown interesting local places such as monastery, cafe, restaurant, church , museum, and market, supermarkets and other useful stores even a graveyard whatever takes their fancy. Another is they could be shown how to make some of the traditional meals like: “Banitza” “Gjuvetch”, “Kjufte” or “Kebapche”. Depending on the season they could also be making winter preserves and pickles, “Ljutenitza”- tomatoes and red peppers based sauce (spread), the unique Bulgarian yoghurt or feta cheese. This will not only bring them closer to the daily life of the Bulgarians, but they could find more about current social and political situation and how the changes in the last decade affected the ordinary people and what life is really like on a daily basis and even get involved in the chores etc. This is only a thought but a good one I think and I'm sure someone could make use of it in some way.

What a great idea therowfaminly this would go a long way in helping prospective buyrs to know what life is like in Bulgaria and maybe also give someone an income? I have written a littel below about our experience so I hope its not off topic but compliments what you have written.

The decision to move is never one to be taken lightly and moving to a new country with a different language to a small village with 800 people is certainly a big step. We have met all sorts of people who have done the same thing for financial or quality of life reasons. The world is becoming a smaller place;
communication across Europe is easy and air travel relatively inexpensive. But are you prepared for actually being in your new home? Our village is relatively small the majority of it's small population live hand to mouth although its not much different in the uk and people still work the land to grow as much food as possible. Life is both simpler and harder at the same time. If you are tending cows for your living, your job is fairly straightforward but probably a lot more demanding than pushing pens in an office. But most people seem happy with their way of life here.

If you have a pension or western money to live on in Bulgaria you will probably be one of the wealthiest people in your village or town. The local folk will quickly realise this so don’t be surprised if people knock at your door asking if there are any jobs they can do for you! I have heard that a lot of expats are fed up that people see them as £ signs and the “English price” is higher than the “Bulgarian price” but this is the same no matter where you go abroad. Tourists in England get ripped of by the English just like anywhere else so you just need to keep your wits about you. Everything seems so cheap that you have to keep sanity checking any price by asking “is this a Bulgarian price?” i.e., is this what you think the locals are paying. You hear a lot of horror stories about people being ripped off and corruption/mafia but I think a lot of these things are avoidable. Usually its been Brits ripping of Brits from what we’ve heard. It helps to have someone you can trust who knows a bit more about the place you’re living and doesn’t have any thing to gain financially from giving you advice. Forums are great for this .There will be a certain amount of petty crime if you are careless. We have an outside tap in our garden for example. In the time between us buying our house and moving over a year later the tap went missing. But whoever took it was kind enough to plug the pipe so that no water ran out in the mean time and I’m sure that the tap went towards putting a meal on a table or to someone who really needed it. Petty crimes against property have never really been a concern for us as that’s what you get contents insurance for and crimes against the person are much lower here. All of our neighbours that we’ve met were very welcoming. There is of course a certain amount of suspicion of foreigners which we had expected but on the whole I would say it is more welcoming moving to rural Bulgaria than being an outside in a small farming village in say Shropshire! my wife baked our neighbours opposite some bread to say thank you for such a warm welcome and they turned up the next day with a bag of fruit and some fresh milk thicker then I have ever seen!

There is a really sense of community as well. We may be getting an easier ride - I think most people are inclined to give a hand to people with a small child who look like they need help but I think the hospitality and community spirit would still be there. When we first came to view our house we tried a number of times to walk to the Yambol but people kept pulling over offering us a lift! We tried to walk there three times there and back but ended up getting a lift from some kind person who stopped to help us out. If you are moving to rural Bulgaria it is worth thinking about how you plan on getting around. It's fine waiting for the bus and hitching a ride in the summer but when it's snowing you might want a car if the closest shop is 5 miles away. For us it was lovely to feel that we are becoming part of a community rather than just a bunch of people who live in the same area. Within a couple of days of arriving we had people saying hello in Bulgarian as they walked past and some of the locals coming over to meet us. Making friends in the village is going to be difficult if you don’t speak Bulgarian but you will find that people are keen to talk to you and do want to be friends. We are foreigners in Bulgaria so it is really up to us to learn Bulgarian.

My husband and I have often discussed a way of setting up a rural tourism "
package"
I have many lists of what could be done here, how to market it. We even looked at EU grants - but other things come up and it gets put on the back boiler.

We have already put together a schedule for a week full of "
activities"
that could be done in and around our village - walks, fishing, making cyrene and other dishes, days to local places of historic interest - a day shopping in Yambol or Burgas, trip to the coast - all with someone who has been there and done it.

We have an annex on our house, primarily for family and friends to use - It is also handy when someone comes over to see how their house is progressing. It is available for short-term letting as well, for people to "
try before they buy"
. I think relocating would just seem so much less daunting for many, if they had even a small glimpse of village life, met a few Bulgarians, had been to the local supermarket, know where to get a taxi, know where to park in the town centre etc. and also know someone they can ask for help every now and then.

therowfamily wrote:

I've been looking on the forum and read some very good posts about life in Bulgaria but nothing will ever beat the reality of trying it at first hand which then led me to think Why not take it a step further. For example does anyone offer the option to stay with a Bulgarian/English family in a small town or village in Bulgaria. it will acquaint those thinking of buying with everyday life of the contemporary Bulgarians and the expats with their hopes and problems that they face every day. They would also get a feel of the warmth of Bulgarians and their hospitality.They could be shown interesting local places such as monastery, cafe, restaurant, church , museum, and market, supermarkets and other useful stores even a graveyard whatever takes their fancy. Another is they could be shown how to make some of the traditional meals like: “Banitza” “Gjuvetch”, “Kjufte” or “Kebapche”. Depending on the season they could also be making winter preserves and pickles, “Ljutenitza”- tomatoes and red peppers based sauce (spread), the unique Bulgarian yoghurt or feta cheese. This will not only bring them closer to the daily life of the Bulgarians, but they could find more about current social and political situation and how the changes in the last decade affected the ordinary people and what life is really like on a daily basis and even get involved in the chores etc. This is only a thought but a good one I think and I'm sure someone could make use of it in some way.

fantastic idea 'Therowfamily'

Are you going to do it then?

It is under discussion at the moment therowfamily and will let you know shortly.

Oddy

I was just thinking of something simple nothing too complicated and maybe other members can add what they think and we can then put it together I know that we all have come across different things we have had to do compared to others and it can be personal but maybe just a basic line of approach to what is needed as a minimum.

well we moved here into a six month rental first over winter to see if we liked it, saw it at its worst, ok we sold house and shipped furniture over, but we also had the time to look for a place we liked in an area that we liked not had to like because the holiday time was about to run out etc etc...

we are now very happy in a lively village with mains water drainage garden water, electricity that is connect pretty much all the time, excessible or year, yep we tried it out first!!! close to main shops no one hasslin us for work, as the major says no gypsies.

In our opinion if your serious aboutmoving go on holiday first take a look at different areas, learn a bit of the language, get at least a six month rental and see if its for you....

before people ask no i dont have a property to rent for six months lol!!!

dobberedout wrote:

well we moved here into a six month rental first over winter to see if we liked it, saw it at its worst, ok we sold house and shipped furniture over, but we also had the time to look for a place we liked in an area that we liked not had to like because the holiday time was about to run out etc etc...

we are now very happy in a lively village with mains water drainage garden water, electricity that is connect pretty much all the time, excessible or year, yep we tried it out first!!! close to main shops no one hasslin us for work, as the major says no gypsies.

In our opinion if your serious aboutmoving go on holiday first take a look at different areas, learn a bit of the language, get at least a six month rental and see if its for you....

before people ask no i dont have a property to rent for six months lol!!!

Good advice

That's brilliant advice dobberedout and if only more people would do this then they wouldn't complain afterwards, I think that all passports should carry advice like this so that it can easily be read, just like a government health warning.

Very well put Sarah and an excellent post by dobberedout who from what I can see has done all his homework and is now happy with his choice which is great lets hope others will read this and maybe do the same or at least the minimum and spend some time in Bg before buying.

I love the bit about the government health warning but what a good idea.

I had a health warning about the goverment or was it a wealth warning..

Thats why im here!!

Great advice Doberadout, it's clearly what we ought to do. Would be nice to know what village you settled on to provide all these advantages, if you are willing to PM me about it perhaps? Meanwhile where do we look for suitable rental property and what can we expect to pay? Any suggestions?

therowfamily wrote:

I've been looking on the forum and read some very good posts about life in Bulgaria but nothing will ever beat the reality of trying it at first hand which then led me to think Why not take it a step further. For example does anyone offer the option to stay with a Bulgarian/English family in a small town or village in Bulgaria. it will acquaint those thinking of buying with everyday life of the contemporary Bulgarians and the expats with their hopes and problems that they face every day. They would also get a feel of the warmth of Bulgarians and their hospitality.They could be shown interesting local places such as monastery, cafe, restaurant, church , museum, and market, supermarkets and other useful stores even a graveyard whatever takes their fancy. Another is they could be shown how to make some of the traditional meals like: “Banitza” “Gjuvetch”, “Kjufte” or “Kebapche”. Depending on the season they could also be making winter preserves and pickles, “Ljutenitza”- tomatoes and red peppers based sauce (spread), the unique Bulgarian yoghurt or feta cheese. This will not only bring them closer to the daily life of the Bulgarians, but they could find more about current social and political situation and how the changes in the last decade affected the ordinary people and what life is really like on a daily basis and even get involved in the chores etc. This is only a thought but a good one I think and I'm sure someone could make use of it in some way.

Hi Therowfamily thanks for your patience however, as stated it is a good idea but after discussions with the team, it has been decided that we cannot undertake this task due to the time it would take to monitor and maintain. However, we are happy for our members to compile their own lists and thoughts on a new post. Thanks once again.

Oddy