Hi All
Hope you have settled into the New Year and that the weather is not treating you harshly. We have booked flights to come over to (all being well!) arrange the rest of the work on the house during March - air con and central heating for all seasons! it's a very exciting time and we are looking forward to being back in BG - some trepidation as to how it will go but we are fully armed with a few words of Bulgarian, a phrasebook and a heart to do it. We arrive in Elhovo on the 15th March - our house is in Srem in the Haskovo region - anyone know of somewhere to stay or to eat near there information would be much appreciated

Hiya did a search on Google and this is the only one that came up [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ... e415c5c2X1

Many thanks

I found this hotel, very close to you too it seems [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] looks ok!

Many thanks - looks fine and very close

Hi all
just thought I would update on how things are going. We stayed in a new hotel in Elhovo the Banyata - which was fairly good - reasonably priced and very clean. We managed to arrange for all the renovations and even choose a kitchen and then (as things often do) went overboard with outside walling and car parking. Mitko from Newhomesv was very organised and efficient - since our return the work has been delayed somewhat due to the weather - all appears to be on track now with all the interior work completed - hopefully it will stay fine and the rest of the stuff will be completed soon. We will be back over in a short while - has anyone driven south from Hungary a Wizz have started some flights from our local airport which cuts down the drivind at this end- I've done a bit of internet research but the routes and estimated times vary a lot. Any advice much appreciated

Thanks for the update carolo its is great to hear things are moving nicely for you guys. Won't be long now before you are enjoying yourselves in your new house. Good luck

Thanks very much Bernie and Dougie
we can't wait - the next job will be the garden - love your idea of the donkey - it is a great idea and has given my partner confirmation that we should have one - do they really eat anything?

carolo wrote:

Thanks very much Bernie and Dougie
we can't wait - the next job will be the garden - love your idea of the donkey - it is a great idea and has given my partner confirmation that we should have one - do they really eat anything?

The garden, well Carolo make sure you bring wellingtons, thick rubber gloves - don't bother with any English tools as we have tried everything and they don't do much apart from look good. The Bulgarians have a kind of half moon hoe and it is just worderful it is a hoe but acts as a chopper for those really hard roots. If you can bring really thick black plastic for the ground should you wish to lay stones the weeds grow though everything here. If your garden is big than get a sit on mower, it is really hard work mowing the grass/weeds we have gone through two petrol mowers already. The donkey did not eat much at all you need a herd of donkeys to clear a garden. Now goats on the other hand are great , they eat everything in sight but unfrtunately you can smell them a mile away, they would all have to washed before they come to us

We have 2000 sq mts of land for we have cut the grass down to nothing but when the rain comes (and we have had a lot of rain all of May and still coming) you can sit and watch the weeds growing in front of you. I have now bought weed killer and will spray a very strong solutions all over so it burns everything and keep doing this every few weeks then later we will get stones and cover the garden I don't like gardening at the best of times but this is way too much - you have to keep on top of it every week. All this land It' brilliant if you want to grow your own ves etc. I can honetly say we have never worked so hard in a garden as we have here in BG, but when the land is clear it is a wonderful sight. Today we spent 3 hours pulling the 7ft weeds behind the granny house I was cover from head to toe but did not cover my face so got 6 mozzie bits Dougie got 11, next time we will put net over our face. It is hard work but as the ground is soft it is al lot easier to pull the weeds and roots out. We got so much done. I will pop done and get a photo shortly.....

We love it here in the county eveything is so much better. Yesterday I made a shepherds pie for Baba Ginka and Ivan - I took it up to them and I came home with strawberries, peas, 4 different types of fresh herbs, patotoes, baby cucumbers, cherries and 30 eggs There's my shopping done. She is now trying to talk me into having/rare some chickens for the freezer but I just can't bring myself to do that yet. It is a wonderful life here and many people love the simplicity of life, can have it's bad days too but overall it's great. I understand Elhovo is a lovely area. You will love life here ...

Thanks for the advice - we have 1600 sq m of land slightly smaller than your plot but still more than enough to keep us busy I think!

Hi All
Thought I'd give a bit more an update - not that there is much to report as the rain and rain and rain has continued relentlessly!! It has ground us to a stop with the work outside - concreting driveways and walls is not such a good idea in torrential rain. Lets hope the roof and guttering hold up to the terrible weather - it hardly seems to stop - maybe just enough to let the weeds regrow with a bit of sun.
Looks as if our neighbour Mitko was true to his word and slashed and burned the weeds! I love that the neighbours will always offer to help and also this seems to be the Bulgarian way to control a plot - quite appeals to me too - sound sooo much better than the digging!!!
We are hoping to fly over in a few weeks when we're sure all will be completed and the Bulgarian sun will once more be shining on us.
Next step is the furniture - anyone any advice please? - we looked at a couple of furniture shops whilst we were in Yambol/Elhovo a while ago and there are some online shops available.
I would appreciate your comments
Thanks

Hi Carolo

Thank you for the update, yes too much rain here fed up with it ourselves, yesterday and today have been fab, lets hope it says that way for a while. Soon you will be here again and all will fall into place...Not sure about furniture sure someone from that area will come forward and assist you soon.....

How are things going with you guys Carolo ?

Strange ? been on today but not replied? hope they are all ok.

W'e.re fine - thanks for your concern. We were over in BG in October and have now returned to the UK - sorry to have caused alarm but pm'd a new member quickly and didn't have the time to post to all
The house is just about completed now looks good so we have spent most of our time cleaning fixing and gardening.
We employed some villagers to cut down the garden and a few trees which they probably charged us too much for but it was very entertaining - complete with the horse and cart. Got slightly worried when one of the trees took the new fence down but some animal had broken through and eaten some kind of bird- maybe a chicken - in the garden so the fence would have had to have been replaced anyway - something a bit stronger as I am worried about the dogs - we have two terrier types that will tackle anything!
The only other issue seems to be the radiator in the kitchen is too large for the freezer door to open but it will be nice and warm
This will be replaced - watch this space- otherwise we will be living on sausages as it is the only thing we could thread through the door!
Hope you guys are all good
We're going to try to find a decent campervan or small motorhome to drive over next year - I think this mat be easier said than done - I'll keep you posted