This is an artical a newpaer (Yorkshire Post Today) run on some friends of mine who made the move.

British Family Find Better and Safer Life in Bulgaria



FED-UP of a life fraught with Britain’s escalating violence, one Yorkshire family knew they had to make a life-changing move. Sheryl and Del Trott quit Hull for Bulgaria – and in the former communist country they have found a better place for their three children to grow up. Three-bedroomed detached house also costs on average £56,000 and a supermarket shop half the price of here. A decent three-course meal out for two with wine is just £12.50.

The couple also feared Britain’s violent streets. In Hull their eldest son Karl, 18, had been the victim of school bullying, which culminated with him having a knife held to his throat on one of the city’s buses. They put their house, in Holderness Road, east Hull, on the market for £82,000 and began looking for their perfect home in Bulgaria. They found the right place in Bulgaria with a price tag of just £24,000. They then spent £6,000 renovating the 13-year-old property.

After just four months Mrs Trott, a 37-year-old former care home worker, said she and her husband would now never return, mainly because life was more relaxed and also because pressures on family finances were considerably less.

The kids are becoming more violent,” said Mrs Trott, who is originally from Armley, Leeds. Even if the young lads are not out on the streets causing trouble, I still wouldn’t have liked my little ones to be out playing. This is definitely a better place to bring up kids.”

As well as Karl, Mr and Mrs Trott have two younger children, 18-month-old Ellesh and Spencer, three. According to their mother, the children, who don’t start school until the age of seven in Bulgaria, are already picking up the language.

She said: “They already know the basics like how to say hello, thank you and goodbye. We aren’t so good though. We have a phrase book we take everywhere…”

Mr Trott, also 37, has not worked since the move, but is setting up a gardening business serving other English ex-pats. Back home, gardening was just a hobby for the former steel erector.

“One of the best things about living here is that you do not feel vulnerable, as I did in the UK,” said Mr Trott, who was born and brought up in Hull. “Here there is no violence and no threat of violence. There is nobody hanging around on street corners and it is all very family-orientated.

“The only strange thing I saw was last December, when the locals brought their pigs out on the streets to slaughter them. Apparently it is some kind of Christmas tradition.

“The other good thing is the cost of living. We couldn’t live in the UK on the amount of money we spend here, our bills alone there were around £800 a month. I wouldn’t want to move back to England for all the money in the world.”

I hope it works out for them. So nice to see such positive reports about Bulgaria!! Nets - you can tell your friends, that 4 years down the line, we are even more certain we did the right thing, bringing our child up in Bulgaria.

Very positive and a nice story as well. I hope they find more work than just working for the Brits. Once they have a good command of the language they might be able to diversify into other things and supplement the income.

Hope it works out for them but living without a pension or regular income must be hard.

Thank you for sharing Nets that is a wonderful story and sending very positive vibes to everyone. Sincerely hope they live the dream. Good luck to them.