We love to come and enjoy some slow living in our cosy Bulgarian holiday home not far from the Black Sea. As property is so affordable here, we are very fortunate in that we can afford a second home where we can enjoy short trips by the sea away with our five dogs.
It’s January as I write this and our garden with our main house doesn’t need too much attention and so we decided to take a longer vacation to our holiday home for the first time. This meant, however, that we also needed to transport our three cats! We hadn’t attempted this before and so we were a little intrepid for the long drive.
Even though it’s a second home, it still feels like I’m on vacation every time I visit. One reason for this is that we have attempted to capture a sense of relaxation and escapism in the style and decor of the house. This ranges from a low maintenance garden, to rocking chairs on the porch, to a large corner bath where I can enjoy a long soak with a candle and a glass of wine.
Our Bulgarian holiday home
Our Bulgarian holiday home sits in the quiet village of Dyulevo not too far from the Black Sea. It is nestled in a quiet street on the edge of the village. We are surrounded by countryside – which we can see from the upstairs windows and we are not too far from the Turkish border, this means that it usually tends to be a few degrees warmer than our valley.
Homesteading
As this is not our permanent home we can’t cultivate a vegetable garden as there’s no one here to water it regularly. However, we do have two wonderful walnut trees! I also find that basil grows quite happily with little water here. These two ingredients mean that I have a year long supply of frozen pesto! We also have plum trees for making jam and the local drink. Lavender grows really well also and I have an abundance of it. I use this for tea, cooking, and obviously also lavender bags. I am also currently contemplating getting some beehives. Other woody herbs also seem to grow really well here which I preserve for winter as well as eating them fresh when we’re down.
The downstairs of the house
The house itself is over 100 years old. The ground floor was originally used to house the animals. We have now turned this area into a cosy French style kitchen and sitting area.
The beamed ceiling,restful green kitchen cupboards, and wonderful fireplace all suggested to me a French country kitchen – so that is the style I’ve gone for. French kitchens tend to be easy-going because they comprise old pieces of furniture – often mismatched. As it is our second home we didn’t want to spend a lot of money and so we utilised an old table that belong to the house with some comfortable second hand basket chairs that a neighbour kindly gave us. I find it very relaxing cooking in this room.
The living room also has an amazing beamed ceiling. The beams are clearly repurposed as they contain holes where they had been attached to other beams in the past. Jeff who has spent all of his working life in building believes that due to their size they are from an old boat.
The room didn’t have a fireplace but Jeff made this wooden mantle which looks as though it’s always been there and goes perfectly with the room. Tiled floors and leather settees mean that everything is easy to wipe down with all these animals. It’s a lovely room to relaxing with comfortable seating, lots of cushions, and blankets.
We have a large comfortable bathroom and a utility room on the ground floor also. This means that we can keep a lot of the clutter out of the kitchen which is nice. The house is altogether easier to clean than our main home which means I can Just enjoy my time here.
Upstairs in our Bulgarian holiday home
We have three bedrooms but we only actually use one most of the time. We use the second one as a dressing room.
The landing is particularly inviting I think with the dark wood, warm red Turkish rug, and textiles. I keep my collection of elephants here😊 This hallway leads out onto a lovely little covered balcony with two rocking chairs – I’ve always wanted a rocking chair! It is just so restful sitting here at night listening to the night owls and looking at the stars which are clearly visible here.
Maintenance
There is still work to do on the front of the house. We have also built a large dining area at the back of the house which needs completing. When we are down here we love to eat out and usually have a barbecue in the warm months – which means I also get a rest from cooking.
The walls are all white throughout the house so we can just easily touch them up once a year. This also acts as a good foil for our collection of paintings, textiles, and masks that we have collected on our travels. We keep the front garden as low maintenance as possible with gravel and just some shrubs and bulbs. The back of the house is a big challenge – we’re not sure what to do with it yet. 😊
The surrounding area
The surrounding area also helps with the holiday feel. We are only 20 minutes by car from the beach and also within an easy drive to various holiday destinations frequented by tourists in summertime but equally as beautiful to visit in winter.
Being able to bring our dogs and cats helps me relax also as it means I don’t have to worry about kennelling. I did work out that the accumulative cost of kennel fees will help pay for the house over the next 10 years😊
If you are interested in purchasing a Bulgarian holiday home please also see my posts:
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