Many readers have asked why we chose Bulgaria for our retirement home, as the choice probably does seem a little unusual. Interestingly, many UK citizens choose to retire there, and quite a few Americans, too. But it’s a loooooong story!

It’s a beautiful country with strong culture and traditions. People are generally friendly and welcoming. Especially in the rural areas, there’s plenty of space, property is low cost (though cheaper properties invariably need a lot of renovation work), and the cost of living is lower. Not everywhere in the country is safe, but in good villages like ours there’s zero crime, one can leave the house unlocked, confident there won’t be any problems. It’s like going back to how things were when I was a kid.

I feel it’s very much God’s leading that things worked out as they did. We first visited Bulgaria in 2013, when hubby turned 50 and wanted to take a fun and inexpensive short trip for his birthday, choosing to fly to wherever the airfare was lowest cost. That was Bulgaria. When we visited we both loved the country, and kept going back with the idea that we’d buy a house there. But hubby wouldn’t settle on buying anywhere until we’d visited all the various regions.

Then Brexit happened, Britain leaving the European Union, which would complicate everything. The only way to avoid the Brexit complications was to buy a house before the cut-off date, then go to Bulgaria to fill in some paperwork. So, I prayed, and felt led to buy a very very inexpensive house on ebay (less than the cost of a budget used car!) in a region we’d never visited or even considered visiting, but from a seller we knew was trustworthy. I never intended that we’d actually live in the house, just use it for the paperwork.

Turned out that buying the house online was easy. Getting to Bulgaria to do the paperwork, less so. Covid happened, with lock-downs, on-again-off-again travel bans, compulsory quarantine. By the time it was safe to travel again, hubby had become ill with heart problems and was too sick to travel. I’d developed a travel-triggered health problem a few years before and was nervous about travelling on my own, but even without that, I didn’t feel I could leave hubby. All this meant I couldn’t get there in time to do the paperwork before the deadline.

Thankfully, hubby’s health improved. He couldn’t travel, but was well enough to leave for a few days. I still had to go to Bulgaria to complete the paperwork to buy the house, even if it wasn’t going to get us residency under the pre-Brexit rules. So, off I went! Oh, I was so scared! Scared about travelling alone, about whether the trip would slam me back into worsened health problems I really didn’t want to have to deal with again, about going to stay in a remote rural village in one of the poorer regions of the country I knew nothing about that might not be safe, in an old house that I’d never seen.

Well, God was in charge. I was very wobbly, but I managed the trip to Bulgaria and the visits to the estate agent in the city to complete the purchase paperwork. Then, on to the village to see the house I’d bought. Parts of the village appear dilapidated at first glance, but it has a lovely small church, a cultural centre, an elementary school, two museums dedicated to a Bulgarian writer who lived there, a shop, a cafe, and a bus service. The old house looked okay at first glance, but had some unexpected issues. The first time I used the bathroom and went to flush, the cistern fell off the wall! Oops! I also realised it had rising damp in some walls, none of the appliances shown in the estate agent’s listing actually worked (well, they never said they did!), and worst of all, water poured in through part of the roof during a fierce storm the first night I was there, turning the dirt floor of that room to mud.

I really thought I’d made a terrible mistake and was all set to sell the house back to the estate agent. But the neighbours were so friendly and helpful, and assured me it was a good safe village to live in and they’d help me arrange the roof repairs (they speak no English, I spoke next to no Bulgarian, so Google Translate on our smart phones was a huge blessing!). Hubby insisted I keep the house, at least until he was well enough to travel there to see it. And somehow despite my tears over the leaky roof, I had the sense God wanted me there. Very much the same feeling I had during my bumpy courtship with hubby (then fiance) where I tried to break up with him numerous times and God kept sending me back, telling me this was the man He wanted me with.

That first visit to the Bulgarian house was three years ago. Since then, a lot has changed. The old house feels like home. I love the village. The surrounding countryside, with wide fields of corn, wheat, and sunflowers, remind me of the Australian countryside I grew up in. The nearest small town has almost everything we might want or need. Work’s been done on the house. The leaky roof, the non-functioning kitchen and bathroom, the worst of the scarily dangerous electrical wiring, and disintegrating windows have all been replaced. The house needs plenty more doing, but it’s now livable. Plus we’ve taken on responsibility for feeding and caring for the semi-feral cats there, leaving cat food for them with our neighbours when we’re not there. Even the old bruiser tomcat now lets me stroke him.

Hubby and I have both visited multiple times and love it. We have more space, more quiet, more peace there, compared to our small house on a busy street in a UK town. Hubby needs the peace and quiet for his health, and manages much better there. The village really is safe and friendly and peaceful. Spokoine is a Bulgarian word we hear a lot describing the area, meaning restful, peaceful, calm. And the village is developing in good ways, everything from an excellent new very well-stocked shop replacing the old run-down shop to a vet moving to the village and hopefully opening a clinic soon (in the meantime, he does home visits!). Our wonderful neighbours are a blessing and have become good friends. We’re involved in village events, and accepted.

Due to Brexit and that paperwork I couldn’t get done in time, we may need to wait another year until February 2027 before we can move there to live, but I’m trusting that God has a purpose and plan with the wait. And in January 2026 it seems He may be opening a door for us to move sooner, a new digital nomad visa for remote workers. My book earnings might just qualify me. Makes me smile, the irony that a visa for nomads might get us to where we want to settle and stay! It’s in God’s hands. I’m starting to gather up the necessary paperwork. Hubby is looking at suitable campervans for us to move six cats 2000 miles. If it’s meant to happen, it will all come together.

And that’s our Bulgarian story! It’s one of those choices that seems crazy, but when God is in control, those crazy seeming choices, if led by Him, can turn out to hold the biggest blessings!