Plan B
Having arrived back in Sofia in mid February and travelling over 3,000 miles to each corner of the country, the house hunting wasn't finding the forever house.
We viewed a house in Karlovo, and took up the offer to stay a night. The property was lovely, but ridiculously overpriced.
We saw a Kennels Business for sale near Elhovo. We called the estate agents to see if we could view the next day, to be told "no, there's a viewing next week, it might get sold". Undeterred we found the Business on Facebook, so managed to call the owner direct.
Unconventional
Phil was surprised about the Estate Agent (he wasn't even signed up with them), and was happy to see us. We wouldn't have made the trip from Sofia just to see his house, but the stars were aligning.
On our way there after our overnight stay, Phil called to reveal that an offer had been made on his house, but his nextdoor neighbours needed to move back to the UK, we could view that instead.
Already committed and enroute, we pressed on.
Best House to-date
On arrival, Phil expalined that his house was still on the market, so we viewed his first, then went nextdoor, to see the house that wasn't even on the market.
First impressions were very good. We could move straight in, with nothing needing doing.
We met Sheila, her husband Gary was in the UK for tests, as the Bulgarian hospital wasn't making progress.
We viewed the house on 13th April. made an offer, haggled and eventually concluded the deal on 10th May.
We sleptover that night, got the bus back to Sofia in order to get the van.
Arrived with the van on 13th May.
Lucky 13, hopefully!
Mamarchevo
Plan B, is a 3 bedroomed property with half an acre of land. It's an hour away from Burgas and the sea, and also an hour from Yambol (the administrative centre for the area Mamarchevo is in). We are 20 km as the crow flies from Turkey, though it's 55km and 50 minutes to the border crossing.
There is a large presence of border police, as illegal immigrants flow across from Turkey. Obviously, the illegals are looking to travel much further north. Have seen none so far.
The road to Yambol is a tale of two halves, a new stretch at the Yambol end is nearly UK quality. The second half is on a par with the worst in Bulgaria. The road to Burgas is 90% good! In the UK, we drive on the left side of the road. In Bulgaria, we drive on what's left of the road!
We spent the first couple of weeks sorting our ID cards (this is very much a "papers please" country). Digging some beds and getting some salad and vegetables in has been a priority (plenty of pictures in the Gallery).
Not had much opportunity to go exploring the local villages as yet, but early days.
Sun, thunderstorms and village people
Apparently the seasons have been late in Bulgaria this year, which is good for us, as hopefully aren't too far behind with our planting. When it rains, it pours. When the sun shines, it's been plesantly warm. July and August can be sweltering though. The garden seems to be a clay/sand/stone (and rubble) mix. Beginning to find areas that were previously used for agriculture, still lots of stones in the mix..
We have a Dimo next door with his wife and Canada Dimo opposite (he's Bulgarian, but lives in Toronto from November to March). And obviously there is still the Kennels owner Phil as our other neighbour. He's agreed a sale to a Scot/Australian couple and their son. We met the new potential owners and all seems good.
Trees
Seems that we have 5 fig trees, two (in the picture) are geting established, the other 3 are resprouting from chopped trees). 3 Mulberry trees - 2 white, one black - certainly originally planted to raise silk worms.
We have 3 "proper" Walnut trees, and two that have resprouted after the main tree had been chopped. There's a new early Cherry, which I've pruned into shape, and old late Cherry, half eaten by termites, which will be a rescue job, once it's finished fruiting, a Pear, which probably needs another for pollination. There are 2 vigorous established vines, one developing and one that I've cut back to the base, as it was being eaten alive by some scaley type bug.
Well, well well.
We now have a 31 metres deep hole with water in it. See the Well Done page.
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