Its been more than 10 years since my mother Kathy and I first came to Bulgaria in search of the beginning of a new life. We looked at a number of different properties but we fell in love with this house immediately and so began the story of St. James’ Park, Voditsa. Named after the home of Newcastle United, the football team of our hometown in the UK.
Since then Kathy has turned our field into a beautiful garden and the house into a home. Now after 8 years of enjoying the village life, with many guests, volunteers and friends coming to visit and wondering about the above questions she is enjoying an adventure of her own, in Asia. She is probably asking herself similar questions about little villages there.
Five years ago I left the recession hit world of the UK and my job as a Civil Engineer to finally come to live in my house in Voditsa and have a change of lifestyle – and it has certainly been that! I am now living here enjoying village life and everything it brings. We have since bought another house across the road from St James’ Park, with 1800 square meters field for the veggies. We also have chickens, pigs, bees as well as cats and a dog to look after. As well as ‘The Purple House’, which is another story.
I have taken over many of Kathy’s roles; having guests visit, taking on volunteers and helping people move to Voditsa – to keep the village alive. Although I am not yet a gardener of Kathy’s standard I’m getting there, and last year I made some big changes to the garden. I’ve also learned that I enjoy building anything from mud and I’m beginning to explore where this might take me.
Life here is fun, challenging and endlessly interesting. The weather covers a range from -25°C to +45°C, but that just encourages us to live seasonally. We try to keep this site updated as much as we can and are currently working to update all the pages. If I get a bit behind it’s because the field is calling or the animals need feeding! We hope reading about life here interests you. I really enjoy having visitors and meeting new people. I look forward to meeting you; as a volunteer, a guest or a passer-by.