Thanks for the warm welcome, folks. Appreciated.
A little more about me/us:
We're in our mid-50's. From Engerlund originally but have lived in Shetland for a while now and Caithness in the Scottish Highlands before that. We are looking forward a few years (5-ish) to decide where we want to retire to. Shetland is a beautiful place to live but the weather can be decidedly grim, even in Summer. So we're considering moving abroad to somewhere that still has seasons but a warmer (in Summer) climate.
I've drifted in and out of looking at Bulgaria for a while now. But we've decided to do something about it and I'm researching it as much as I can. Hopefully we'll get out late summer in 2016 for a good mooch round, possibly hopping over from a friends place on Paxos, Corfu into Sofia and basing ourselves somewhere around VT for a week or so. We're not bothered about resorts and complexes (I already have enough complexes of my own, thankyou very much) and we are more hillwalking and villages types.
Budget is limited, not bothered about a big flash house, something basically all there in a village with services we can buy cash without having to sell the house in Shetland first.
Looking forward to speaking to you all in future threads.
K & K