Anecdotes

When I first was taken to view the cottage at Rakovitsa, we drove into the village & I'd run out of cigarettes. So I asked the guy from the estate agency who was driving me around to stop at the village store. He said: Ok, my mother is the shop-keeper, & he introduced me. We exchanged pleasantries & I bought the cigarettes. After we'd both got back in the car I said: Where do you buy food? The shop had very little food on display; mainly kids sweets, cigarettes, & the inevitable wine & rakia. He said: What food? I thought for a second then said: Well, eggs for instance? Eggs? He said; Why would you want to buy eggs? Everyone has chickens!
I was green as grass then, but very soon I learnt. In the country areas of Bg they still live how we used to, maybe 100 years ago. They produce & make most of their own food; including their wine & rakia (of which they are allowed to distill 30 litres per annum!). Very green innt?
As a Bulgarian friend of mine put it: You pay extra for organic food in your country. In Bulgaria, all food is organic because the farmers cannot afford the fertlisers or the weedkillers! He's got a point, hasn't he?

The First Thing (& the first blog!)

Hello, all you alternative seekers, this is one of the cottages I have for sale in sunny Bg. Its ready to move into, but would need a bathroom & the kitchen re-fitting if you wanted it up to western european standards (otherwise leave it as it is & "go Bulgarian"! It even has furniture (basic but serviceable), but more importantly, it has 1200 sq. metres of good useable land with a well-tended vineyard, looked after by the bloke next door (who makes wine & rakia & who would show you how to do so).

There is more land available quite cheaply in the village as it is under-populated due to the parlous state of the Bulgarian economy.& of course, loadsa free pasture outside Rakovitsa; as there is around most villages in this area.
But if you just want it as a holiday home, well there's loads of things to do--- fishing, hunting, general touristy things, the mountains, the Danube, & cheap food & wine in the cafes, bars, & restuarants in both Vidin, Kula, Belogradchik(stunning place, google it!), & Vidin, the provincial capital.
So I'll leave you to peruse my website & for any more info "Watch this Space", thanks for looking & bye for now, doug.