St. James’ Park
An Alternative Campsite and Hostel in Bulgaria
Questions that people having been asking me:
What sort of activities do you do or envision doing together?
Dont know, right now. It’ll be a couple of years before all of the above are actually living in the village -most of them came on holiday without a load of money in their back pocket and they’re currently working somewhere else to pay off their loans etc. It all depends on what everyone is going to do to earn a living- but for example, I’m not interested in keeping animals but I like to eat meat sometimes so maybe i’ll share a pig with Ed. I have a carotsa but no horse -we could share that. This is an Objective 1 area in EU development terms - we could set up Voditsa Development Association and do all sorts of projects (I was a Development Consultant in a former life).
Can you get by without speaking much bulgarian? (I assume it’s a challenging language to learn?).do young bulgarians speak some english?
Of course but if you want to really get to know your neighbours and actually understand the country and culture, you need to make the effort and learn the language. Any language is a challenge -especially if you’re a natural English speaker when everyone wants to speak English! Its becoming more common for younger people to have English as a second language. I have just made an arrangement with a retired teacher in the village to run Bulgarian classes-more on that as it develops.
Is it possible to buy land and build simple structures on it - ie, cabin, yurt, roundhouse (not so simple!), strawbale, cob….. i assume there is no objection to cob as most of the older houses there will be built with it?.
I guess so - check out http://www.hotnitsa.com/ for details of courses that have happened here and more specific information.
Are there dreaded building regs, or is it fairly leniant?
This is a former communist country so beaurocracy is at it’s core! Yes there are lots of regulations but all government website are in English and this information does not appear to be a secret.
What - if any - is the ‘alternative scene’ in the area?
Not sure what that means…..anyway, right now there’s only me, my visitors, volunteers and the ever increasing trickle of people interested in an alternative lifestyle - so come and make a ’scene’.
You say complementary therapies are beginning to take off, so that would indicate there are people who are trained to carry out such therapies, and people who want to receive the therapies…. indicating that things are moving in a good direction. are the bulgarians interested in such things, or ‘just’ the foreigners?
I’m not sure …you need to remember how new everything is here and most of the practitioners that I’ve met are just in the process of moving here or at the beginning of setting up. Introducing new ideas takes a while and depends on the approach of the practitioner. Along with a friend, (when I have some time) I will be setting up www.alternative-bulgaria.com -which will be a directory of alternative everything in the country. That could be a big tools in bringing more publicity and awareness to all new ideas.
Are there other people around doing anything similar or complementary to what you are doing? wwoof hosts? permaculture projects? sustainable building/living? co-housing or intentional communities?
Yes- a growing number. check out www.wwoofbulgaria.org and www.helpx.net I’m working with a friend to produce an alternative directory at www.alternative-bulgaria.com(not online yet) which will bring many things and people together.
if there aren’t others around, is it lonely? who do you make friends with at a meaningful level? is this why you are calling for uk’ers to join you?
I’m not lonely - I have a life full of people with lovely spaces in between. I have Bulgarians friends as well as ex-pats. I dont really care where people come from -I would just like more people to come and live in this village - I get enquiries from all over the world so this is not just directed to UK residents.
Are there any fruit trees?
Are you joking? You cannot starve in this country in the summer - there are wild plums, peaches, apricots, pears, apples, everywhere. Most houses come with vines and most, if not all of the above list. Everybody you meet when you walk around the village, will give you a bag of plums or apples when they meet you. The best plums are the big blue ones.
In winter do the roads stay open, and shops stocked? can you get to the larger town for supplies?
This is not Britain where everything stops in surprise at the first fall of snow!. It has been snowing and cold every winter here since ever, so they do have it pretty sussed! All the roads are open, there shops are stocked-no need to go to the next town for supplies, the schools are open, the buses run- life carries on- it just happens to be minus 20.
How long is the winter, i suppose i mean, how long is the temperature zero or below?
First snow is beginning of November. Temperatures really drop in mid December and the winter ends around second week in February. Last year it never got above minus 10 for 8 weeks.
Can you buy things like vitamins and supplements, wholefoods, etc? if not, will things arrive if ordered online?
The postal system functions just like eveywhere else in Europe. Parcels from the UK take about 4 days. At this time of year we have vitamins oozing out of every pore of our skin-there is more fruit around than you imagine. There is the opportunity to have a healthy balanced lifestyle here so maybe you wouldn’t need suppliments but yes they are available in pharmacies and supermarkets. Wholefood are another issue but I’m sure that if enough people asked their local shops to stock certain things, they would. Or why not come and set up a wholefood co-op? or better still grow your own wheat and get it milled in the village.
can you pick up bbc world service?
If you have a short wave radio.
Is internet available in the village yet? and can you get radio 4 online thru it?
You can get internet through a mobile phone provider. The national phone company, BTK, have a contract to install digital exchanges and provide internet to all villages - Voditsa is on the list for 2009. Internet is internet - you can get any radio you want. There are no political firewalls!
Are there restrictions on uk citizens working or setting up business?
No, its the EU.
What are the driving conditions like? not a lot of traffic i understand, but how about the roads themselves? bumpy and pot-holey? are the ‘major’ roads reasonably smooth surfaced?
As part of their agreement on entering the EU, Bulgaria, as an Objective 1 area, accessed strucural frunding under ERDF to improve both the physical and administrative infrastructure. There are dual carraigeways and motorways but in more remote areas there are still a few potholes. Not much traffic, thats true but quite a few mad/macho drivers.
How much is petrol currently?
Deisel is about 2.20lev, petrol is around 2 lrv and LPG is about 1.60
Who is the dog in the photos
Jess and she is not for sale.