A British family who left the UK for Bulgaria after realising they would never be able to buy a home say they saved £300,000 by snapping up a farm for just £7,000.
Lewis Vye and his wife, Jordan, both 31, left their two-bed rental house in Bournemouth, Dorset, and moved 1,788 miles to Haskovo Province, Bulgaria, in June 2022 – with their two children, Leo, 11, and Fae, two.
Jordan came up with the idea to emigrate after speaking to a friend of a friend who told her she had bought a house in the country for just £3,000.
After mulling over the idea and constantly checking Rightmove for properties, the pair bought a two-acre plot of land which included a three-bedroom house, a barn and outbuildings for £7,000 – cheaper than the £300,000 mortgage they were facing in the UK.
However, they suffered a small setback when the Covid pandemic hit, meaning they were unable to visit the property until May 2021.
Lewis Vye, and his wife, Jordan, both 31, left their two-bed rental house in Bournemouth, Dorset, and moved 1,788 miles to Haskovo Province, Bulgaria, in June 2022 with their two children, Leo, 11, and Fae, two
When they were finally ready to move in June 2022, Jordan and Lewis informed their family of the move, sold most of their belongings and packed up their caravan.
The couple say their quality of life has improved as they have more time to spend with their children and with each other.
Jordan, a freelance social media manager originally from Bournemouth, said: ‘We were really struggling with the whole mortgage thing.
‘We had our son at 19 and moved into a flat that we couldn’t afford, it all started from there.
‘It set our path for never being able to get a mortgage – it was a really big thing of owning our own home.
‘Even with two wages, it wasn’t something that seemed achievable for us in the UK.
‘It hasn’t been easy but there is such a great community here in Bulgaria.
‘It reminds me of what my grandma would use to say when she lived in Bradford.
‘It was a community, it was a village, everyone knew everybody, everyone helped.
The family left the UK for Bulgaria after realising they would never be able to buy a home – and saved £300,000 by snapping up a farm abroad for just £7,000
The couple said they had ‘always wanted to live in the countryside’ so the move was a perfect opportunity to start again
‘We had so many people when we arrived offering to help us.’
Jordan was in Southampton, Hampshire, when she bumped into a friend of a friend who revealed she bought a house in Bulgaria.
Jordan said: ‘I was talking to a friend of a friend, and she told me she bought a house in Bulgaria for £3,000. I asked her if I could have a look, I couldn’t believe it.
‘I went home and had a look for myself, I remember showing Lewis and I joked saying “should we start again?”
‘We then looked, and we couldn’t believe what we could get for that price. We had always liked the idea of doing something up.
‘It was also the countryside element, we had always wanted to live in the countryside.
‘In Bournemouth, if you want a house in the countryside, it was never going to happen for us.’
Jordan and Lewis then informed their family of the move, sold most of their belongings and packed up their caravan – arriving in Bulgaria in June 2022
After mulling over the idea and constantly checking Rightmove for properties, the pair bought a two-acre plot of land which included a three-bedroom house, a barn and outbuildings for £7,000
The couple say their quality of life has improved as they have more time to spend with their children and with each other
Although the couple have never looked back on their decision, their family was less sure about the move at first.
Jordan said: ‘They feel like we sprung the news on them, but we have had it planned for a while.
‘A couple who had moved out here told us to book the ticket because if we don’t book it we will never leave.
‘Neither of our families wanted us to go – part of that was I was a new mum.
‘Our children were young, you have such a support network whether that be your mum, grandma or auntie – they were worried about what we will do.’
The couple explained that they sold most of their belongings to get to Bulgaria, which involved a ferry from Bournemouth and a lot of driving – taking 20 days in total.
Jordan said: ‘We made sure we slimmed down everything, we were going to ship everything over, but the prices were extortionate.
Jordan, Lewis, Leo and Fae enjoyed a dinner outside in the good weather during a family holiday
Lewis and Jordan purchased the house in Bulgaria for £7,000 using their savings – it came with an out building
Lewis said he aims to have the whole project finished in ten years (pictured Inside the farm barn)
Since arriving in Bulgaria, the couple have been doing all the renovations themselves – spending around £5,000 so far
‘We thought it wasn’t worth it, so we sold everything – everything was for sale.
‘We were stopping every day to pitch up the caravan somewhere and unload it as it was full of our belongings.
‘We would unload our caravan every night and reload it again in the morning and head out.’
Since arriving in Bulgaria, the couple have been doing all the renovations themselves – spending around £5,000 so far.
Lewis said he aims to have the whole project finished in ten years. The former engineer, said: ‘It is going really well.
‘We got in the house pretty quickly from the caravan even though we weren’t really expecting to.
‘We have done a lot of work so far – we have redone all the plumbing and the electrics.
‘We have patched up the roofs on three buildings, we have built a septic tank system, so we have all the sewage in place.
‘I don’t have a background in construction, but I do have a past of being good at DIY.
‘I look at YouTube videos, but I have friends who work in the trade too so if I get really stuck, I will lean on them.’
The couple are documenting their renovation journey on their YouTube channel – @frombournemouthtobulgaria – and admit the journey hasn’t been easy but it is worthwhile.
The couple are documenting their renovation journey on their YouTube channel – @frombournemouthtobulgaria – and admit the journey hasn’t been easy but it is worthwhile
Jordan said: ‘I remember pulling up in the caravan and we parked it in the middle of our land and we were unpacking.
‘I remember looking at all of our stuff with flies all over the food and I thought “what are we doing”.
‘The number of times I have said that I want to go home but we are in such a different position now.
‘When we arrived, people realised we were struggling so people would turn up with bags of vegetables.
‘It was lovely, the day we pulled up, next door came round, and they were all helping to get us moved in.’
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