When we first visited the village in which we bought it was like stepping back 30 years in time and I loved it.

Every house grew their own produce even grapes,kept chickens and ducks and even made their own wine. There seemed to be a lot of pride taken, in themselves and their village. It was very refreshing to see.

Just had a great Easter over in Bulgaria! New kitchen fitted - all the drain pipes from sink leak! Hob not working, hey but that's the norm nothing I can't fix. Ranting over - my neighbour invited me over on Easter sun for traditional meal of lamb cooked in the sealed bbq - it was great! He had all his family there lots of drink and food conversation limited but his son (15yr old) speaks pretty good English so we all got on fine. If this is what life is going to be like when we move full time later this year I cant wait!

A few thoughts on the cost of living in Bulgaria:

Beware of hidden costs in the first few months. We found we overspent our budget quite a lot. It's all the little things that add up such as winter tyres, documents getting sorted, translator costs etc.

Now its all settled, for a fairly good standard of life I would say we spend about 1000 lev a month for family of 5, doing quite a bit of travelling and eating out maybe once a week. But we are still doing the garden and so still spending out for that. I think 1000 lev is about 500 euro.

When I paid the water bill to the lady that came to the door it was 150 lev for 3 months, when I went to the office to pay it was 15 lev for 1 month.

Our living costs are as follows for 2 people:

Electric 60lv per month
Cable (tv phone internet) 39lv per month
Water 15lv per month
Car including all expense 200lv per month
We eat out every day as it is cheaper and quicker - 2 people between 8-10lv per day
Shopping about 30-40lv per week
This autumn we spent 300lv on logs far more than we need but we stock pile.

If you come to BG, don't want to learn the alphabet or the language - you'll be gone in under two years. I guarantee it. Particularly if you base yourself in a village. Surveys show that the vast majority of british expats emigrating to non-english speaking countries return to the UK within three years and the main reason is that they can't be bothered to learn the language of their host country so they feel isolated. Even in countries such as Spain or France where the languages are an order of magnitude easier than slavic languages, so many Brits (and Irish) don't seem to bother. And that begs the question - why emigrate?

You need to visit the country first to make sure this is where you want to move to, we have been here now for 12 years and live 7kms inland from Sunny Beach which is a great location for us, near to the sea and just far enough for the peace and quite of the village, the coastline varies from the north to the south, me I love Burgas but there are many people that prefer Varna, which is why you need to look for yourself. You will find very cheap properties but these will be quite a way inland and most will need to be knocked down and rebuilt, prices along the coast now are not cheap and houses with land also are now not cheap.

If driving to Bulgaria from the UK, 2 routes seem to be popular:

France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria. Others have gone from Hungary through Serbia but this has also been suggested to be missed as Serbia is not yet in the EU. Some say good some say miss it, I can't say either way.

The other route is: France, Italy, ferry to Greece and into Bulgaria. The mountain roads through Greece are said to be quite hairy, this is just what people who have taken the route have said.

Regarding the best way to drive to/from Bulgaria and the UK, we drive a car out each year and back again in November. We've been through Serbia and also via the Hungary/Romania route. Green card is a must if you're taking the Serbia route - no offence to anyone but they're buggers if they think they can get a few euros extra for 'selling' you a green card at the border!! It's quicker though and the roads are really good. Via Hungry and Romania the roads are more like the UK A roads on a busy day with a few pot holes but much nicer boarder control. If you go via Romania, you can get onto the Varna/Bourgas road (from Varna, only 90 minutes to Izvorishte). Via Serbia you need to take the ring road around Sofia - please don't try to get through it!! Vignettes you can buy from most petrol stations and post offices although we found the petrol stations easier. So check with your insurance for a green card, buy the road tax (vignettes) where applicable, try to get through Austria in the daylight (it's awesome) and have a good journey! We normally take 30 - 35 hours but we grab sleep in the car (trade hotels for getting there quickly). FYI, my brother made the journey this year at the beginning of August via Serbia with his family including 3 young children, stayed overnight twice and only took 42 hours from Dover to Polyana (20 minutes from Yambol). It's not a bad journey. Good luck!

Jobs are hard to come by out here. Especially for the English, its almost impossible. Its hard enough for the Bulgarians to find decent jobs, & if youve been out here before you know that the wages are very low. Even setting up your own business is difficult because of this. This best solution from the Uk is to find a company that could possibly relocate you out here. Alternatively try and set up something that is geared to the tourist season.

For painless (well almost) grocery shopping take the elevated road south from the airport and carry on under the main highway. First you come to 'Billa' on the left and about a mile further south is 'Hit', also on the left. Both are good shops and both stock a broad range of proper stuff. Most importantly, both are easy to find and parking is easy. At Hit there is also a consumer electronics shop and an optician.

Regarding Internet connection, if ADSL is not available in your area you might want to consider BTK's ISDN service. It is not as fast as broadband but I have used it for my work for two months and it is good enough. I also use "Onspeed", a data compression service that costs about twenty quid a year; it speeds up the connection. ISDN promises 128k speed plus a telephone line that works at the same time. To double the speed of the internet connection you can use both lines to achieve 256k speed but I have not found that necesary. It isn't the cheapest solution but if you are not close to an ADSL node it might be the best compromise. BTK was very helpful with the set-up. Word of warning; if there's a power cut neither the internet nor the phone will work because the terminal adaptor needs power.

Our experience with pets in Bulgaria. We drove over last October so maybe the regs are changed with BG being in the EU? Our dog is a 12 year cross collie spaniel, she had to have a pet passport and rabies vaccination and a microchip identity implant. Our vet did all that for us. She loves it over here. yes the heat can be a problem but if we're going out in the car we leave her at home where it's cooler and she drinks lots of water. She has a lot of freedom here - only problem is - there are a lot of ticks but you can get frontline combo here. She was hurt by a car - one of the chaps working on our house reversed the trailer and didn't know she was there. She had a severely torn diaphragm and damaged part of her lung. We took her to he university veterinary hospital in Stara Zagora - they gave her a 50/50 chance of surviving the op. she was operated on and made a full recovery and it only cost us 150 leva [about £50]!

Bank accounts. In Bulgaria I have Bulbank personal, and Procredit and Investbank company accounts. I would not recommend Bulbank, now called Unicredit Bulbank, far too slow. Postbank and Procredit banks seem to be foreigner friendly and have ebanking which seems easier to use than the other banks' services! But this is my opinion, do as i did in the UK, ask for advice and the services offered in several banks, and go with the one you like!

I am using Bulgarian Post Bank, for me it is one of the most user friendly banks as they have e-banking system which is easy to use. They have a few offices in Varna. I have been using First Investment bank before that but their system is much more complicated. Procredit also have ebanking and are quite up to date and user friendly.

When building in Bulgaria, try to learn the language first, so you can be sure you will not be conned. If you hire labour the gypsies are about 6 to 8 lev a day. For general labour actual builder types are about 45 lev a day but this does vary and you have to agree a price before they start. Try to buy the materials yourself so you know what they cost. rather than letting the builder/s buy them as they will inflate the price.

Don't be too lavish with any prezzies that you bestow on Bulgarian friends or colleagues. A friend gave his retainer a bottle of (real) scotch and the poor chap tried to hand it back, he said it was too much. He took it in the end but he would probably have been more comfortable with a flagon of rakia from vinprom.

If bringing electrical appliances into Bulgaria, one thing you do need to get if you don't already possess one, is a voltage tester (a lighting up screwdriver). It is important to know which pin of the socket is live and which is neutral in order that the UK positive can go into the live socket and be controlled by the appliances switch. You can't tell by just looking at the back of the socket...the wires are all white! No colour coding. Also, please check that your house wiring is earthed. A question you wouldn't even ask in UK, but around the villages, an earth (or ground) is the exception rather than the rule. Don't panic too much though. It is easy to have an earth installed by a competent electrician.

Bulgaria is a beautiful place, and on the whole is filled with very nice, hard working people. Going to BG for the first time is an experience but, I think, a good one, and if it is possible to see some of the country and towns or cities, DO IT!