Britons living in Bulgaria. Guide to Bulgaria, Sofia and Varna

BULGARIA - BLACK SEA BRITONS
A big attraction for Britons is the cost of living in Bulgaria. Yvonne's and Stephen’s monthly water bill is only £1.50, and electricity costs between £10 ...

A good bottle of wine costs £1, a beer 20p, and a slap-up meal for two, even in a tourist resort, less than £10. All the Kents miss about Britain is bacon, friends and family. BULGARIA - BLACK SEA BRITONSBULGARIA - THE BLACK SEA BRITONS"Friendly people and low costs make Bulgaria a retirement haven,"The Times wrote on Friday 11 November 2005. Bulgaria was lovely, and, although there are a lot more people here now, we still think it’s great,” Yvonne said. For those looking for a permanent foothold and respite from the crowds, however, Kosharitsa is pretty, unspoilt and just a few kilometres inland. Groceries are also cheap — not to say free in the summer months, when Bulgarian neighbours with market gardens and orchards call to share their tomatoes, apples, pears and vegetables. Here the same pension allows us to live very well. If Bulgaria joins the EU, prices will rise, but, if locals are still earning the same wages, it'll remain comparatively cheap. If you ask for directions, they go out of their way to help, and cann’t be kinder,” Yvonne explains. If you’re not careful you can be tipsy by teatime every day. In resorts there's sometimes two-tier pricing — for the locals and for tourists; Because rents are high, restaurants and bars have to do this. It is also rumoured that bears still exist in remote areas. Margaret says that she has already picked her burial spot. Most package tourists do not make it further than Sunny Beach, Bulgaria’s huge resort by the Black Sea. Prices are also cheaper in places where local people shop. Rather than buy a ready-built house, they asked a Bulgarian who befriended them to put one up to their plans. That and the cost of medication amounted to £3.50. The couple now have Bulgarian friends who help them out in emergencies. The people are friendly, and go out of their way to help. The deal, including central heating and a good finish — neither normally supplied as standard by Bulgarian builders — cost £60,000. There is talk of forming an expats’ club, but we probably won’t bother. They admire the family-centred style and the Bulgarians’ warmth and moral standards; but at first they found it strange adapting to cultural differences. They invite you in for drinks, and arrive with trays of grapes, tomatoes and red wine after the harvest. To those who predict that most Bulgarian retirees will return to Britain sadder and wiser once old age sets in, Margaret replies that they have already encountered one emergency, and survived. We can say ‘hello’, and ask simple questions. We're both learning Bulgarian, which must be one of the hardest languages. Yvonne added, “If we'd been thinking of an investment, we chose the right time to buy, because the house is now probably worth three times as much; but we think of it as our home, and plan to stay here rather than take the profits. Yvonne's and Stephen’s monthly water bill is only £1.50, and electricity costs between £10 and £15 a month.