Why Bulgaria, surely you want to go and live in Spain?

Many people we know assumed that we would just go and live in Spain after all we have a nice apartment there and my brother and his wife also live close by.
The fact is many thousands of British people head to Spain for their retirement mainly because it's sunny and virtually everybody speaks good English.
But for me it is simply "too easy" to live in Spain, I am the type of guy that will need much more of a challenge in my retirement and Spain is too British and just not as picturesque.

At first when you buy property in Spain you are under some kind of illusion that if you buy outside of the main areas that you'll be the only British people there. But the truth is in the local market or supermarket it's sometimes harder to spot a Spanish face as there are just so many Brits on the Costa's and everybody's very eager to moan about it or tell you what to do and where to go etc..

So by contrast when you buy a house in Bulgaria it is just the opposite you probably are the only Brit in the village and although there is an expat scene it's much more subdued.
The Bulgarians are reportedly very nosy and very quick to point out how to do things but there will be tried and tested methods to village life so you can either learn through mistakes or take good advice.
I will positively welcome the chance to learn the quirky ways and traditions and the fact that villagers don't speak any English is a proper challenge.
I also love the idea of make do and mend as I can turn my hand to anything, in western Europe most things now have a shelf life and are far too easily dumped and replaced so much waste.

Bulgaria also has a wealth of knowledge and traditional skills that are there to be passed on things like woodcarving and stone masonry etc, skills that are in decline in England.

So anyway we bought a small house and barn in the Lovech area in need of renovation and TLC

Before we bought we did a tremendous amount of reading and then physical research for example we haven't just read blog after blog but in fact got in the car and drove right  across Europe to see just what it's all about staying in every country we travelled through in both small guest houses and village homes alike with the help of airbnb and booking.com

We first stayed in a brand new small hotel in Lovech back in 2006 (probably the only one then as tourism felt like it was just starting out)
Since then we returned as part of our roadtrip in 2014 staying in a 1star Bulgarian hotel in Veliko Tarnovo  called the "Hotel Central" just a few minutes walk to the centre and a Bulgarian guest called "The Old Lovech" owned by a retired Bulgarian sea captain and his wife right in the middle of Lovech old town and fabulously restored in detail with a great deal of care and love, a true credit to the owner.
Because it was "research" we didn't stop there
We also stayed in a 2 bedroom house in a small village called Lovnidol with an English couple called Ian & Eve who had lived there for 7 years.
As well as putting in the mileage and driving all over the Balkan range staying in Bansko out of season in a chalet.

This did not put us off and we returned in 2015 and stayed in the village of Golets with a Russian lady and her Bulgarian man-friend in a fabulous fully renovated village complex comprising of several houses that backed onto each other. We had a fabulous experience here that we will never forget the hospitality was just excellent. We made yet  another trip over the mountains and a stay in Kalofer a very beautiful town surrounded by mountains again with a young Bulgarian family in the most clean and welcoming apartment. Setting off again we travelled East and stayed in Palitsi near Elena with an elderly couple called Krasi & Ivan what a joy and privilege that was to stay in their home with them, it was like staying with your grandparents totally unforgettable, before staying again in Veliko Tarnovo, at the 4star Hotel Panorama after all it was our 25th wedding anniversary we had a great day out walking eating and chatting before heading back to a family hotel in Sofia.

We return again now in May to start our renovations a full 5year plan. This time we will stay at Lovech,  Plovdiv, Gabrovo, Mikre,  Sofia, Golets and Veliko Tarnovo.
So it's not as though we have gone into this with our eyes shut, I always say plan and then plan some more.