October '17

Hello again!

As I have previously mentioned we spent the end of last year back in the UK. This was so we could work, and make a bit of cash to carry on renovations, as well as to see our friends and family - we hadn't visited for nearly 3 years.

Pete and I both worked in hospitality so November and December is the perfect time to go back as it's the busiest time for pubs. I was lucky enough to be offered a full time supervisor role back at my previous work place and, would you believe, they needed a chef too and asked if Pete would like to work there! Yes please! This was fab as it meant it was all sorted before we even got back to the UK and we didn't have to do any job hunting. In fact, we started the morning after landing!

Staying cosy in the kitchen

Only in Bulgaria can you go for a dog walk (in your pyjamas) and
come home with a glass of homemade wine from the neighbour!

So, you may all be wondering - but what about your pets and home!? Where did they go? Is it safe to leave the house? Etc etc. Well, we spent a lot of time asking ourselves the same thing and for various reasons nothing seemed to work. Some ideas that crossed our minds:

-Driving, with the pets - we even got them both passports. But our van barely makes it to Chirpan anymore, so unfortunately this was off the cards

-Ride sharing - difficult to plan in advance, especially with animals

-Only one of us goes - boring (for one of us) and not worth the wages

-Paying for pet care at home/in kennels - RIDICULOUSLY expensive

-Asking friends/neighbours to look after the animals - too much to ask for two whole months

There may have been other options that I've forgotten. Anyway, you get the idea, we were at a bit of a loss of what to do. But then, one day, I saw a comment on Facebook with a link to a 'housesitting' website. Why hadn't we thought of this before!? After some browsing I'd joined 3 different housesitting websites (all for free) as well as written ads on the volunteering sites we are already signed up to. It really is a win-win as the sitter gets free accommodation and you get your house and pets looked after and kept warm.

We sat back and waited for the messages roll in. To be honest, we were a bit worried at first - I mean, who would want to live in rural Bulgaria, for 2 months, in winter? As it turns out the answer is - quite a lot of people. We had 10 or so requests but, to cut a long story short, we ended up finding the perfect family to housesit for us. The family were from Belarus and were a couple in their 20's and his parents. They actually wanted to move to Bulgaria so needed somewhere to stay as a base to explore the country. They worked online so could stay for as long as we needed. And they loved animals! Hooray! 

So, October was spent sprucing up the house and preparing everything for winter. December/early January can have unpredictable weather so we wanted all the water off outside and everything else ready in case we returned to several feet of snow. We cleaned out the 'building room/future living room' and gave it a lick of lime wash to brighten it up. We plasterboarded the outside of the larder and re-pointed the stone wall we'd revealed earlier. We sanded and varnished the floor in the upstairs hallway. We did several DIY jobs around the house (you never notice how many annoying niggles or irritating things you live with until you have the pressure of someone else coming to live in your house!) We also planted some spring onions, lettuce, spinach and radishes just to see if they worked (as it turned out the sitters were eating salad from the garden until January!)

Parasol mushrooms from the forest

We are going to miss buying two pints of wine
and a large rakia for less than £1!

The building room (future living room) spruced up a bit!

Looking out from the 'living room' towards the kitchen

Outside of the larder - floor all varnished

From the other side!

Marigolds still in flower and self seeding

Veggies coming up!

We'd ordered wood from our mayor weeks and weeks ago but it never arrived, even after several requests. We desperately needed it as we had to supply the housesitters too, so in the end we ran out of time and went to Chirpan to buy the pre-cut wood instead. It is more expensive but the wood is good (slow burning) and once it was delivered we could just stack it straight in the wood store.

We were quite nervous the sitters would arrive and think 'what have we done?' But by late October most things were done and there was no turning back!

Evening walkies

Stacking the wood

The family arrived and we stayed with them for a day to show them around the village and around Chirpan. Only the young couple spoke English but they were all extremely friendly and grateful for the opportunity. They have renovated their own houses in the past so living in a not-quite-finished home was not unusual for them. Also, the pets both loved them all instantly, which was a huge relief.

For our last night at home we slept in the mezzanine (for the first time, actually - which was cool) and then we had a couple of nights in Sofia before leaving.

Sleeping in the mezz

Goodbye doggy (who has NO idea!)

Sunny Sofia

As a leaving gift our Bulgarian friend gave us a huge head of garlic and told us to eat a raw clove a day to keep us healthy - aww, we are going to miss it here!

Thanks again for reading!
Until next time xx