When you mentioned 'five years' I couldn't help but thinking about the USSR and its five-year plans for economic development (piatiletka). Bulgaria took after Soviet Union and had their first five-year plan in 1949. The most famous slogan was 'five-year plan in four years', to encourage faster progress. It could be your motto 😊
You are so grate!! You work hard, creating own house from scratch, at the time when majority of young people spend free time in pubs, waiting when grandparents leave them their property....
Thank you for that, don't get us wrong, we enjoy a nice cold alcoholic drink in the sun, but it's not the definition of our lifestyle, unlike most people our age back in the UK. Life is too short , and feel so grateful everyday for the opportunity to do what we do
Guys we are just so proud of you and what you are doing for yourselves, instead of just sitting around holding out your hands for a benefit and expecting the world to support you. You are truly an inspiration to so many! You don’t understand how much help and advice you give to so many 👏 you guys keep doing you because you’re great 👍
Hey guys. I have been following your videos for a while, but haven't commented. I just wanted to add a couple of general things related to some of the stuff you have discussed previously, so not related to the topic of this video. I want to make a couple of points with respect to the affordability of housing in Bulgarian villages and the lack of infrastructure. As you probably know, over the last 20 years, Bulgaria has lost about 2.5 million people and currently there are about 6.5 million people living in country in an area of about 111,000 square km. At the same time, the population of England is 56.5 million (50 million more) with an area of about 130,000 square km. (so just slightly more than that of Bulgaria). In addition, everyone has left the Bulgarian villages searching for work and better living standards. The people left in the villages are mostly old people who aren't economically active. This is why it doesn't make sense for the Bulgarian government to invest (at this time) in infrastructure in villages with very little population and with a significant fraction of the population being pensioners or simply economically inactive people. Again, think about England and its population density. England is almost the same in area, but the government collects far more in taxes due to the higher density of the population. So, things can improve in your village in terms of infrastructure only if more people (specifically young people) move there. Until then, you will have to get used to the lack of paved roads. That's also partly why all the houses in these villages are so cheap (in addition to basically there bing no jobs unless you are able to work remotely).
You're absolutely right, we are aware that it will take a while for the rural locations to become more established, but even in our village we are seeing a lot more investments. Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
Your figures are out of date - there are 68.9 million people in the UK as of today and 6.8 million in Bulgaria. Having lived in Bulgaria for the last 8 years, infrastructure is changing but very slowly, .......however, I have seen a notable move of people - younger Bulgarians (and other nationalities) moving back into villages - after all who wants to live in a noisy, grotty ex Soviet apartment block when you can have a nice detached house with large garden for a fraction of the price....... and the younger people tend to be more mobile i.e. access to their own vehicles or remote workers - after all even though they may be difficulties with water and electricity one can get relatively low cost fast internet in most of Bulgaria....
@@soaruk3697 My numbers aren't out of date. I specifically referred to the population of England, not that of the UK. And yes, nobody wants to live in old commie apartment blocks, but that's why there is a construction boom in some of the big cities as young people move into new construction. People still live "on top of each other" because education for your kids is just non-existent in the villages. Plus, Bulgarian cities are liveable since they are green, and very low on crime. The biggest minus is the infrastructure which is slowly improving. Also, nature is taken for granted by Bulgarians because we are used to it as that is "normal" for us. Part of the problem with the UK and England specifically is that you are used to live in single-family houses when you don't have the space for it. That's part of the reason why your housing market is crazy and why people are forced to move out. Bulgarians are used to living on top of each other, which keeps housing costs low.
@@SecondWindd Sorry about that - used to people ignorantly referring to the whole UK as England...I agree with most of your points, but I wouldn't say apartments in Bulgaria are really that cheap to purchase, and as I say I have noticed in quite a few of the surrounding villages where I live a notable buying up of village houses - there are far less 'empty' houses in the villages around me than when I moved here 8 years ago and mostly are not owned by non- Bulgarians - maybe its just the area I am in? . Things are very gradually changing and I wonder how many of those that moved abroad will eventually return.........?
@@soaruk3697 well I agree with you - many people are moving back to Bulgaria and to the villages again as me - spend 6 years in the UK and some time in USA, returned back to Bulgaria a year ago, currently live in a village but will move to the city soon as I own a flat (new one not communist one) anyway, currently work from home so it doesn’t bother me I’m in a village. Also, loads of my friends are already moved back or planing to do so In the following months as the cost of living crisis. Also you know better than me about the prices of the houses in UK :x terrible I mean they are sky high barely pay your mortgage and you are dying welp… it’s hard but yep people are moving back to Bulgaria. Only for a year during covid 120000 Bulgarians moved back to Bulgaria , similar numbers of Ukrainian refugees are now in Bulgaria (most of them will leave but still some will remain) many Russians and Belarusians are escaping to Bulgaria now
That's very honest of you, also very stoic in mindset bringing peace to you both as you refuse to rush or work at a modern pace.. We are with you totally in mindset and agree fully in most of your principles regarding simple living or minimalist living. But we have a larger budget on hand just in case...the irony though is that we want to try and pull our project off without over spending on it, this in itself makes the challenge fun and quirky as you try to beat the system by using reclaimed materials and not paying labour to anyone when you can do it yourself... In our Hoval, there was so much left wood it's crazy, and strange to fathom why it was even left.... We admire you as we are doing the same, we have decided to only convert the upstairs into a self contained flat and leave downstairs as original....budget wise it makes sense We have have just ordered oak PVC fitted for our upstairs only for 3700 Lev....local maker so mid price...the house wasn't worth getting the best ones... It's still great fun to play in these old properties though endless fun for years to come. Keep going...
We rarely stress out at anything, but when the time is needed to push on and get things we done, we're always good with deadlines. Exactly, its the unknown that is the best part haha and finding resources here there and everywhere that can help keep costs down is a no brainer. Those windows sound unique and i bet they look absolutely mint!
Another Sharkstead, wonderful. Anisha, you have the most beautiful hair. Would it be possible to build a solid bottom where the wire fence is, and re-use some of the wire on top, so that you could still see the livestock going past? You are both working so very hard at your property as well as doing heavy work for your friends. I live at the end of our tiny village, no shop, pub or anything here, and am surrounded by fields. The ones opposite have sheep and lambs in them, and I know how lovely it is to sit and watch them. At the bottom of my garden are more farm fields, with Shire horses and riding horses, cattle in the summer, which bring flies (!), and sheep there also. Best wishes from Susan in E
We've been umm'ing and arrr'ing about that part of the perimeter, we reckon we will have to place formwork at the footings level and incase the existing bottom in concrete, then build a new wall ontop. We're comside like shutter windows to open in the summer to allow rats of sunshine across the low level areas of the garden That sounds absolutely blissful to watch, the countryside is so rich in wildlife and animals in the UK, you're lucky to have that on your doorstep 🥰
Great information guys 👍 I've always said to people that they should budget for 2000 euros per room...so a 5 room house would be approximately 10,000 euros. You guys are right on the money 🤘 We're 3 years in and still don't have a kitchen or bathroom.... everything seems to take forever when you have to budget 👍 Enjoying the videos, keep it up 🤘
Hats off to you both, I have no idea what jobs you did before moving to Bulgaria but I am thinking it wasn't as builders or plumbers? That you have rolled your sleeves up and got stuck in. Sticking to the old rules, if you can't pay for it then you have to wait till you can. Slow and steady wins the race and enjoys life in the process. Little request, it's hard to visualise your house layout from a vlog. It would be great to show a floor plan and to show which rooms you have done and the rooms you are yet to do from a piece of paper. Then you could allocate costs to each room as what was used in there, how long it took and how much it cost. Emma
Well Mark has had an interest in construction all his life and has a lot of DIY experience, and Anisha has an eye of crafts, detail and creativity so we work very well together haha, going over the house plan and costings would be a really cool video so we'll definitely add that to the list :)
I think it would be prudent to consider a good paddling pool over a real one.... I have a paddling pool for the summer a kids one, and I'm 6ft, I assure you it's cheap to fill still very cold and refreshing in the heat and of no cost to me at relatively...I'm in heaven when lolling about in it wether alone or with the wife... What I'm trying to say is forget the pool....imho...
Oh we have definitely considered it, Marks dad has one readily available, whic is 5m in diameter but we felt it would be great to have our own permanent one, and blend/ balance it with the forest style garden on the other side, we will most likely team up with Danny from Welsh Family in Bulgaria to help excavate the rest, and we don't feel it would cost that much to construct the rest ourselves, possibly under 5k levs
If you mean like reclamation yards and things like that, they're not easy to find for second hand materials. Mainly for furniture. However, second hand materials are easily found from private sellers on Facebook expat groups. We tend to use what we've got or what we find 🙂
Me and my partner are in the exact same predicament as yourselves, coming from london, we're in bulgaria right now to look at properties, is it possible for us to contact you for a chat?
Hey@@MarkandAnisha , thank you for your quick the response, just filled out your website form giving some details about our situation and realised I forgot to input my mobile number, if you'd be happy to have a quick chat with me and my wife please just drop a quick email response where I can respond with my mobile number, or visa versa
When you mentioned 'five years' I couldn't help but thinking about the USSR and its five-year plans for economic development (piatiletka). Bulgaria took after Soviet Union and had their first five-year plan in 1949. The most famous slogan was 'five-year plan in four years', to encourage faster progress. It could be your motto 😊
How interesting! Definitely haha 5 years would be good, 4 years would be better 😉
You are so grate!! You work hard, creating own house from scratch, at the time when majority of young people spend free time in pubs, waiting when grandparents leave them their property....
Thank you for that, don't get us wrong, we enjoy a nice cold alcoholic drink in the sun, but it's not the definition of our lifestyle, unlike most people our age back in the UK. Life is too short , and feel so grateful everyday for the opportunity to do what we do
Guys we are just so proud of you and what you are doing for yourselves, instead of just sitting around holding out your hands for a benefit and expecting the world to support you.
You are truly an inspiration to so many! You don’t understand how much help and advice you give to so many 👏 you guys keep doing you because you’re great 👍
Thanks Jonny 🥰 just to be clear... We are just absolutely winging it 😂😂
@@MarkandAnisha 🤣
Hey guys. I have been following your videos for a while, but haven't commented. I just wanted to add a couple of general things related to some of the stuff you have discussed previously, so not related to the topic of this video. I want to make a couple of points with respect to the affordability of housing in Bulgarian villages and the lack of infrastructure. As you probably know, over the last 20 years, Bulgaria has lost about 2.5 million people and currently there are about 6.5 million people living in country in an area of about 111,000 square km. At the same time, the population of England is 56.5 million (50 million more) with an area of about 130,000 square km. (so just slightly more than that of Bulgaria). In addition, everyone has left the Bulgarian villages searching for work and better living standards. The people left in the villages are mostly old people who aren't economically active. This is why it doesn't make sense for the Bulgarian government to invest (at this time) in infrastructure in villages with very little population and with a significant fraction of the population being pensioners or simply economically inactive people. Again, think about England and its population density. England is almost the same in area, but the government collects far more in taxes due to the higher density of the population. So, things can improve in your village in terms of infrastructure only if more people (specifically young people) move there. Until then, you will have to get used to the lack of paved roads. That's also partly why all the houses in these villages are so cheap (in addition to basically there bing no jobs unless you are able to work remotely).
You're absolutely right, we are aware that it will take a while for the rural locations to become more established, but even in our village we are seeing a lot more investments. Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
Your figures are out of date - there are 68.9 million people in the UK as of today and 6.8 million in Bulgaria. Having lived in Bulgaria for the last 8 years, infrastructure is changing but very slowly, .......however, I have seen a notable move of people - younger Bulgarians (and other nationalities) moving back into villages - after all who wants to live in a noisy, grotty ex Soviet apartment block when you can have a nice detached house with large garden for a fraction of the price....... and the younger people tend to be more mobile i.e. access to their own vehicles or remote workers - after all even though they may be difficulties with water and electricity one can get relatively low cost fast internet in most of Bulgaria....
@@soaruk3697 My numbers aren't out of date. I specifically referred to the population of England, not that of the UK. And yes, nobody wants to live in old commie apartment blocks, but that's why there is a construction boom in some of the big cities as young people move into new construction. People still live "on top of each other" because education for your kids is just non-existent in the villages. Plus, Bulgarian cities are liveable since they are green, and very low on crime. The biggest minus is the infrastructure which is slowly improving. Also, nature is taken for granted by Bulgarians because we are used to it as that is "normal" for us.
Part of the problem with the UK and England specifically is that you are used to live in single-family houses when you don't have the space for it. That's part of the reason why your housing market is crazy and why people are forced to move out. Bulgarians are used to living on top of each other, which keeps housing costs low.
@@SecondWindd Sorry about that - used to people ignorantly referring to the whole UK as England...I agree with most of your points, but I wouldn't say apartments in Bulgaria are really that cheap to purchase, and as I say I have noticed in quite a few of the surrounding villages where I live a notable buying up of village houses - there are far less 'empty' houses in the villages around me than when I moved here 8 years ago and mostly are not owned by non- Bulgarians - maybe its just the area I am in? . Things are very gradually changing and I wonder how many of those that moved abroad will eventually return.........?
@@soaruk3697 well I agree with you - many people are moving back to Bulgaria and to the villages again as me - spend 6 years in the UK and some time in USA, returned back to Bulgaria a year ago, currently live in a village but will move to the city soon as I own a flat (new one not communist one) anyway, currently work from home so it doesn’t bother me I’m in a village. Also, loads of my friends are already moved back or planing to do so In the following months as the cost of living crisis. Also you know better than me about the prices of the houses in UK :x terrible I mean they are sky high barely pay your mortgage and you are dying welp… it’s hard but yep people are moving back to Bulgaria. Only for a year during covid 120000 Bulgarians moved back to Bulgaria , similar numbers of Ukrainian refugees are now in Bulgaria (most of them will leave but still some will remain) many Russians and Belarusians are escaping to Bulgaria now
5 years! 8 years mate, and you both seen ours today 😊
That's very honest of you, also very stoic in mindset bringing peace to you both as you refuse to rush or work at a modern pace..
We are with you totally in mindset and agree fully in most of your principles regarding simple living or minimalist living. But we have a larger budget on hand just in case...the irony though is that we want to try and pull our project off without over spending on it, this in itself makes the challenge fun and quirky as you try to beat the system by using reclaimed materials and not paying labour to anyone when you can do it yourself...
In our Hoval, there was so much left wood it's crazy, and strange to fathom why it was even left....
We admire you as we are doing the same, we have decided to only convert the upstairs into a self contained flat and leave downstairs as original....budget wise it makes sense
We have have just ordered oak PVC fitted for our upstairs only for 3700 Lev....local maker so mid price...the house wasn't worth getting the best ones...
It's still great fun to play in these old properties though endless fun for years to come.
Keep going...
We rarely stress out at anything, but when the time is needed to push on and get things we done, we're always good with deadlines. Exactly, its the unknown that is the best part haha and finding resources here there and everywhere that can help keep costs down is a no brainer. Those windows sound unique and i bet they look absolutely mint!
Another Sharkstead, wonderful. Anisha, you have the most beautiful hair.
Would it be possible to build a solid bottom where the wire fence is, and re-use some of the wire on top, so that you could still see the livestock going past?
You are both working so very hard at your property as well as doing heavy work for your friends.
I live at the end of our tiny village, no shop, pub or anything here, and am surrounded by fields. The ones opposite have sheep and lambs in them, and I know how lovely it is to sit and watch them. At the bottom of my garden are more farm fields, with Shire horses and riding horses, cattle in the summer, which bring flies (!), and sheep there also.
Best wishes from Susan in E
We've been umm'ing and arrr'ing about that part of the perimeter, we reckon we will have to place formwork at the footings level and incase the existing bottom in concrete, then build a new wall ontop. We're comside like shutter windows to open in the summer to allow rats of sunshine across the low level areas of the garden
That sounds absolutely blissful to watch, the countryside is so rich in wildlife and animals in the UK, you're lucky to have that on your doorstep 🥰
Great information guys 👍
I've always said to people that they should budget for 2000 euros per room...so a 5 room house would be approximately 10,000 euros.
You guys are right on the money 🤘
We're 3 years in and still don't have a kitchen or bathroom.... everything seems to take forever when you have to budget 👍
Enjoying the videos, keep it up 🤘
We were lucky, we bought before BG joined the EU, 90% of building work was done when the prices were a lot cheaper
I can imagine it was a huge difference! Nice one
Hats off to you both, I have no idea what jobs you did before moving to Bulgaria but I am thinking it wasn't as builders or plumbers? That you have rolled your sleeves up and got stuck in. Sticking to the old rules, if you can't pay for it then you have to wait till you can. Slow and steady wins the race and enjoys life in the process.
Little request, it's hard to visualise your house layout from a vlog. It would be great to show a floor plan and to show which rooms you have done and the rooms you are yet to do from a piece of paper. Then you could allocate costs to each room as what was used in there, how long it took and how much it cost.
Emma
Well Mark has had an interest in construction all his life and has a lot of DIY experience, and Anisha has an eye of crafts, detail and creativity so we work very well together haha, going over the house plan and costings would be a really cool video so we'll definitely add that to the list :)
I think it would be prudent to consider a good paddling pool over a real one....
I have a paddling pool for the summer a kids one, and I'm 6ft, I assure you it's cheap to fill still very cold and refreshing in the heat and of no cost to me at relatively...I'm in heaven when lolling about in it wether alone or with the wife...
What I'm trying to say is forget the pool....imho...
Oh we have definitely considered it, Marks dad has one readily available, whic is 5m in diameter but we felt it would be great to have our own permanent one, and blend/ balance it with the forest style garden on the other side, we will most likely team up with Danny from Welsh Family in Bulgaria to help excavate the rest, and we don't feel it would cost that much to construct the rest ourselves, possibly under 5k levs
In terms of materials do you not find reclaimed goods like we do in the UK?
If you mean like reclamation yards and things like that, they're not easy to find for second hand materials. Mainly for furniture. However, second hand materials are easily found from private sellers on Facebook expat groups. We tend to use what we've got or what we find 🙂
@@MarkandAnisha Almost sounds like a business opportunity ;-) Thanks
Me and my partner are in the exact same predicament as yourselves, coming from london, we're in bulgaria right now to look at properties, is it possible for us to contact you for a chat?
Hey Nathaniel, if you could contact us directly through our other channels or website contact form we'll try and get back to soon as 🙂
Hey@@MarkandAnisha , thank you for your quick the response, just filled out your website form giving some details about our situation and realised I forgot to input my mobile number, if you'd be happy to have a quick chat with me and my wife please just drop a quick email response where I can respond with my mobile number, or visa versa