Making Bulgaria home

Brits Karl and Shirley Wadsworth bought and restored a century-old peasant home in the Bulgarian village of Shtipsko and moved there full-time in 2007. (Michael J. Jordan/GlobalPost)

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SHTIPSKO, Bulgaria — Bulgarian villagers Petur and Paunka share a lot with their neighbors Karl and Shirley. Petur taught them how to brew rakia, an intoxicating brandy, from any fruit that falls from his trees. Paunka shared her recipe for the rabbit stew she makes with bunnies bred in her barn.

In return, Karl and Shirley check in on their septuagenarian neighbors, bringing food when they’re sick. Karl, 38, also shovels their snow and drives Paunka to the nearest city for heart check-ups — sparing her the long ride on her donkey-drawn cart.

“They really are like family,” he says.

Yet Karl Wadsworth, chatting away in imperfect, accented Bulgarian, is no ordinary villager. He’s British — one of thousands of his countrymen now living today in this small Balkan country. Brits now own an estimated 42,000 homes in Bulgaria as investments, vacation residences, or full-time homes. For those who have made the move and embraced rural Bulgarian life, adjusting to local rhythms has been key to their successful integration. Over the past decade, soaring United Kingdom property values, a frenzy of overseas home-buying, and the rise of low-budget flights saw Brits probe ever deeper into ex-Communist Eastern Europe, especially those who could not afford homes in Spain, France, or the U.S.

Bulgaria emerged as the favorite for two main groups: first-time speculators looking to buy, renovate, then sell at a big profit, and those “escaping” what they view as Britain’s deteriorating quality of life. Some homes went for as little as 5,000 British pounds (currently about $8,200). One survey noted that one in 10 Brits who bought abroad in 2007 did so in Bulgaria — the European Union’s poorest member.

Now with the global economic crisis and bursting real-estate bubble, many are desperate to sell, even at a loss.

“A majority were poor working-class in England, so came here chasing a dream,” said Welshman Henry Rowlands, senior editor of the English-language Sofia News Agency. “They were told it would be cheap to fix up places, but then ran out of money, or didn’t like the lifestyle.”

But thousands of diehards remain as full-time residents. Local author Sue Seddon describes them as a mix of “oddballs, rugged individualists, opportunists, the brave and the foolhardy.” They are drawn by Bulgaria’s natural beauty, tasty food and drink, and the relentless hospitality of neighbors.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/europe/090827/making-bulgaria-home