Quest Bulgaria

"We get numerous phone calls every day from Brits asking how to go about making a new life in Bulgaria. To make more cash they are looking at setting up a business. You buy a house and land for about £50,000 and run the business from home", he added.

"Less investment and more profit is what people are looking for and even a third of what you would make in the UK is more than enough to live like a king in Bulgaria.

"Brits have set up in bed and breakfasts, antiques, holistic healing centres, an architectural salvage business and even sausage making.

"Bulgaria is not a mature market like France and Spain but there are endless opportunities as there were in Europe many years ago."

The January issue of Quest Bulgaria looks at how some Brits are making it in Bulgaria.

In September, 2005, after 20 years in Brighton, Mike and Jerry Blake moved lock, stock and barrel to north east Bulgaria to open an ecological and birding field station with a guest house.

Mr Blake, 43, originally from Wallasey on the Wirral, said: "The biodiversity in this region is extraordinary so the location is perfect. The price of property, the warmth of the people and range of opportunities is fantastic. The help of the local businesses made things go more smoothly than we had imagined.

"The main difficulty was, of course, the language barrier and occasionally rather lengthy bureaucratic processes," he added.

Mrs Blake, who was an RSPCA volunteer, said: "We share the workload and really have fitted in with the locals."

Mike now runs the Srebarna Birding Field Station monitoring and reporting to the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve while Jerry manages the guest house, Pelican Lake, and has even become a member of the local folk troupe.

Jo and David Waite from London, both 41, sold their three bedroomed home in Eltham for about £180,000 to fund a B&B. They moved with three of their four children to Kamenar on the southern Black Sea coast and spent €23,000 on their home and another €30,000 to add a pool and a cafe bar called Grapevine.

Neither misses their old jobs with the local council and social services. Said Jo: "It's a much nicer way of life here with good weather and it's much safer for our children. We miss our families but we can't say we miss much else in the UK."

And David added: "We're even hoping to make our own wine this year for the cafe from the vines around the house."

Another couple who took the plunge were Martin and Sam Billington from Leeds who relocated with their youngest child Nicholas, aged seven.

Martin, 43, a car mechanic, said: "We bought a large farmhouse with five bedrooms for £25,000 and spent the same again on doing it up and installing a pool.

"I set up in the barn as a garage for car repairs. It was difficult at first but once word got round I had as much work as I needed," he said.

"I make about a third of what I was making in the UK but with €900 a month to live on we're happier than we've been for years."

Yet another couple, Jayne and Andrew Boardman sold their house in Chorley, Lancs, and bought two houses in the Rousse area for just €23,000. Andrew, 37, a builder, is renovating the two houses while doing up properties for ex-pats.

Jayne, 34, has found a job with a publishing company to boost their income while Andrew's business grows.

Bill and Jane Watson from Bristol used to run a country pub but the high rents drove them out and they were forced to look elsewhere and Bulgaria was it.

Bill, a former Royal Navy chef said: "I met Jane while she was a marine engineer in the navy but, after a while, we got really fed up in Britain."

They are now running Nature's View guesthouse near Elena but with Bill's background their main business is...hand-made sausages.

He said: "The sausage making facility has been created out of the garage. The whole production area is tiled from floor to ceiling with all high-tech equipment. Sausage making is my passion and knowledge of food hygiene, an understanding of meat cuts, good equipment, tried and tested recipes and, of course, a market that wants to buy is everything.

"That is one thing we definitely have here with loads of ex-pats getting us to supply their weekly fix of good old British bangers."

Also featured in the January issue of Quest Bulgaria:

Base Back Home - keeping a home in Britain
Investment in the area of Veliko Turnovo
Area Focus - Stara Planina
Legal - No More Visas
Finance - Forward Contracts, buying currency ahead
Keeping in Touch with home
Bringing your Pets
What to look for when buying a house
Welcome to the EU
Schools - secondary and further education
Winter Warmers - log burners
Buyers Guide
Checklist - preparation for the rental season
And the numbers are growing with disillusioned Brits seeking a better life behind the old Iron Curtain. Quest Bulgaria, the country's leading English language monthly magazine, reports daily phone calls to their offices from the UK about resettling. Managaing Director of Quest Bulgaria, Chris Goodall said: "We know people in the UK are worried about the possibility of huge numbers of Bulgarians going to the UK after they join the EU. But the number coming the other way is quite significant. "We get numerous phone calls every day from Brits asking how to go about making a new life in Bulgaria. To make more cash they are looking at setting up a business. You buy a house and land for about £50,000 and run the business from home", he added. "Less investment and more profit is what people are looking for and even a third of what you would make in the UK is more than enough to live like a king in Bulgaria.

"Brits have set up in bed and breakfasts, antiques, holistic healing centres, an architectural salvage business and even sausage making.

"Bulgaria is not a mature market like France and Spain but there are endless opportunities as there were in Europe many years ago."

The January issue of Quest Bulgaria looks at how some Brits are making it in Bulgaria.

In September, 2005, after 20 years in Brighton, Mike and Jerry Blake moved lock, stock and barrel to north east Bulgaria to open an ecological and birding field station with a guest house.

Mr Blake, 43, originally from Wallasey on the Wirral, said: "The biodiversity in this region is extraordinary so the location is perfect. The price of property, the warmth of the people and range of opportunities is fantastic. The help of the local businesses made things go more smoothly than we had imagined.

"The main difficulty was, of course, the language barrier and occasionally rather lengthy bureaucratic processes," he added.

Mrs Blake, who was an RSPCA volunteer, said: "We share the workload and really have fitted in with the locals."

Mike now runs the Srebarna Birding Field Station monitoring and reporting to the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve while Jerry manages the guest house, Pelican Lake, and has even become a member of the local folk troupe.

Jo and David Waite from London, both 41, sold their three bedroomed home in Eltham for about £180,000 to fund a B&B. They moved with three of their four children to Kamenar on the southern Black Sea coast and spent €23,000 on their home and another €30,000 to add a pool and a cafe bar called Grapevine.

Neither misses their old jobs with the local council and social services. Said Jo: "It's a much nicer way of life here with good weather and it's much safer for our children. We miss our families but we can't say we miss much else in the UK."

And David added: "We're even hoping to make our own wine this year for the cafe from the vines around the house."

Another couple who took the plunge were Martin and Sam Billington from Leeds who relocated with their youngest child Nicholas, aged seven.

Martin, 43, a car mechanic, said: "We bought a large farmhouse with five bedrooms for £25,000 and spent the same again on doing it up and installing a pool.

"I set up in the barn as a garage for car repairs. It was difficult at first but once word got round I had as much work as I needed," he said.

"I make about a third of what I was making in the UK but with €900 a month to live on we're happier than we've been for years."

Yet another couple, Jayne and Andrew Boardman sold their house in Chorley, Lancs, and bought two houses in the Rousse area for just €23,000. Andrew, 37, a builder, is renovating the two houses while doing up properties for ex-pats.

Jayne, 34, has found a job with a publishing company to boost their income while Andrew's business grows.

Bill and Jane Watson from Bristol used to run a country pub but the high rents drove them out and they were forced to look elsewhere and Bulgaria was it.

Bill, a former Royal Navy chef said: "I met Jane while she was a marine engineer in the navy but, after a while, we got really fed up in Britain."

They are now running Nature's View guesthouse near Elena but with Bill's background their main business is...hand-made sausages.

He said: "The sausage making facility has been created out of the garage. The whole production area is tiled from floor to ceiling with all high-tech equipment. Sausage making is my passion and knowledge of food hygiene, an understanding of meat cuts, good equipment, tried and tested recipes and, of course, a market that wants to buy is everything.

"That is one thing we definitely have here with loads of ex-pats getting us to supply their weekly fix of good old British bangers."

Also featured in the January issue of Quest Bulgaria:

Base Back Home - keeping a home in Britain
Investment in the area of Veliko Turnovo
Area Focus - Stara Planina
Legal - No More Visas
Finance - Forward Contracts, buying currency ahead
Keeping in Touch with home
Bringing your Pets
What to look for when buying a house
Welcome to the EU
Schools - secondary and further education
Winter Warmers - log burners
Buyers Guide
Checklist - preparation for the rental season

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