Take care of our house and pets while enjoying village life in rural Bulgaria

Details

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  Description

  Hello! We are looking for HOUSE/PETSITTERS for 7-8 weeks in February/March 2025. Times and dates are flexible at the moment so please get in touch and we can discuss options :-)
  See below our housesitting profile and our usual Workaway profile. Please get in touch if you are interested or have any questions!
  
  HOUSESIT PROFILE:
  
  𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
  Hello! We are looking for trustworthy, responsible sitters who will enjoy quiet, rural living in our lovingly built house, on the edge of a rustic Bulgarian village. Responsibilities will vary on the season, but the focus will be to look after our home, garden, friendly cat and dog and a couple of chickens.
  
  Due to our rural location having your own vehicle is essential. We can help you with car hire if you need.
  
  We are a British couple who moved to Bulgaria in early 2015 to live the simple life! People who would like to experience this kind of living would love it here!
  
  𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫
  Taking care of the animals is the biggest priority, of course! They are not hard work at all, and they love to have company.
  
  The dog and cat live in the house with us. You will just need to top up food and water when necessary. Of course, feel free to take the dog for walks, as often as you care to, in the surrounding countryside.
  
  We also have 2 chickens outside, for eggs. They are very low maintenance; open and close their hutch in the morning and evening and feed/water once a day. And collect (and eat) the eggs!
  
  In the winter you will need to keep the woodburner going to keep the house warm; this also involves bringing wood to the house from outside, usually once a day or every other day. We are currently working on a heating system for the whole house, but please be aware that the heating is rudimentary and needs to be maintained to stay warm (if you go out / let the fire go out overnight, the house will become cold), so you need to be okay with being chilly sometimes!
  
  In February and March there won't be anything to do in the garden, but some general knowledge of DIY/house and garden maintenance would be useful in case of any issues.
  
  𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
  The house is situated on the edge of a rustic Bulgarian village surrounded by forests and hills. The village is very peaceful and quiet, especially in winter. The houses are old, made of stone, have wood fires and the (few) locals are very friendly. There are many fantastic walks in the surrounding countryside straight from our doorstep.
  
  There is plenty of space for a couple to relax - inside and out. Inside we have an open plan kitchen/living area, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom with flushing toilet and hot shower. Outside we have a large veg garden, walnut orchard and a summer kitchen area with a BBQ!
  
  The local town (10km away) has a variety of shops and supermarkets that sell everything you may need. There is also a local fruit and vegetable market every Friday, which is wonderful for buying local produce and experiencing 'real' Bulgarian culture. There isn't a shop or bar in our village, but there is a cosy bar in the next village, which is a 5 minute drive or 40 minute walk from us.
  
  We are located in southern central Bulgaria and to explore the rest of the country from here is easy. There are a number of tourist attractions within driving distance, including the city of Plovdiv which is renowned for its beautifully preserved Roman ruins and cultural centre.
  
  𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
  The house is a traditional, stone village house which we have renovated ourselves, as it was uninhabitable when we bought it 9 years ago. The house is comfortable and mostly finished inside, but please bear in mind this is an ongoing project so there are always a few projects on the go/needing to be finished! There is no AC or double glazing. Although comfortable, is not a luxury villa :-)
  
  It is a very quiet village. It may suit people who want some time to write or paint or just wish to relax with local wine in a beautiful area of the world! Don't expect to meet many people in our village, and those that you do will likely not speak English!
  
  One thing to bear in mind is that this is rural Bulgaria, and, on occasion, there can be power or water outages. These are becoming less common and usually only last a few hours maximum, however you should be aware of this and be able to deal with it if it happens!
  The house itself is renovated with most modern conveniences including fast internet connection (we both work as online teachers and our connection is excellent).
  
  Winter in our village has been milder the last few years, with the coldest temperatures around 0 to -5 celcius. However, in the past it has been colder, and we have also had snow, so it is a little unpredictable! As previously mentioned, the heating for the main living area comes from a woodburner. We will provide small electric heaters for the bedroom. You need to be okay with carrying wood, lighting/maintaining the fire, possibly cleaning the chimney and dealing with the cold in the mornings.
  
  Workaway profile:
  
  We are a young (ish! 34 + 39) English couple living in Bulgaria. We've been here almost 9 years. Over this time we have been renovating our old stone house and working on the garden and land. We also work online as English teachers. We live here with our beautiful rescued dog, Lucy, and our lovely cat, Bilko, who are both very friendly and enjoy meeting new people. In the garden we have several chickens.
  
  Before moving to Bulgaria we travelled through Europe in a campervan and were helpers through Helpx in 5 different countries (including Bulgaria.) The places we visited and the people we met on that journey inspired us to move out here and live a more simple way of life. We are excited to now be on the other side and feel we have learnt from our experiences and will make good hosts!
  
  Over the past eight years we have been working on our home to make it livable. It hadn't been used for over ten years when we first arrived! There is still a long way to go in the garden, but inside the house is almost complete. We have 2 bedrooms, a bathroom with hot shower, kitchen and living room. The house is fairly small, however in the spring and summer months we spend most of our time living and cooking in the garden. We also have a compost toilet outside and a solar shower (only in the summer).
  
  We don't have a set plan for the year, but there is plenty to do!
  Projects that need starting/continuing/finishing include: concreting a patio, building stone gabions, house renovations. We will also be growing vegetables and maintaining the garden. We both work 10+ hours a week online, so you will need to be able to work both with us and independently. We would prefer a couple who are happy to work by themselves when necessary.
  
  Work will vary with the season/what you feel you can help us with. During the spring months (and cooler weather) we will we doing much more building work outside. Jobs will include heavy lifting (stones), concreting, building, carpentry, painting etc. as well as gardening, planting seeds, weeding, watering, harvesting produce. We also need to look after the farm animals and the pets. We are not looking for any particular skills, just people who are enthusiastic, hard working and fun to hang out and chat with!
  
  We prefer helpers to stay for 1 - 2 weeks.
  
  Accommodation will be a double bed in our spare bedroom. The house is quite small and we will need guests to be fairly quiet during our teaching hours. However this shouldn't be a problem as we can spend most of our time outside! It's also possible to camp with a tent or you can park your camper/caravan in the walnut orchard!
  
  We are not vegetarian but we are happy to cater to veg/vegan diets.
  
  Our village is a very quiet, relaxing place. It has many beautiful walks in the surrounding countryside, but no shop or bar. Please be aware of this if you don't have your own transport. There is a bigger town (Chirpan) 10kms away that has bigger shops, cafes and restaurants and there are also several places nearby to visit as a day trip - one of our favourites being the amazing city of Plovdiv.
  
  There is very limited public transport to our village so having your own vehicle may be useful, however there are many bus and train links to Chirpan from all over Bulgaria, so it is not essential.
  
  If you would like to know more about what we are doing here please feel free to have a look at my blog (find the link in the website area) and message us with any questions!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  House sitting
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Come and experience a real, rural, Bulgarian village! Our village is a very quiet, relaxing place. It has a small shop and a bar and many beautiful walks in the surrounding countryside. There is a bigger town (Chirpan) 10kms away that has bigger shops, cafes, restaurants and swimming pool and there are also several places nearby to visit as a day trip - one of our favourites being the amazing city of Plovdiv.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  The plan for this year is to carry on renovations in the garden - including building retaining walls, a summer kitchen, balcony and verandah - so there is some hard work and heavy lifting to do! We will also be growing vegetables and maintaining the garden - there is always plenty of work! We both work 10+ hours a week online, so you will need to be able to work both with us and independently. We would prefer a couple who are happy to work by themselves when necessary.
  
  Work will vary with the season/what you feel you can help us with. During the spring months (and cooler weather) we will we doing much more building work outside. Jobs will include heavy lifting (stones), concreting, building, carpentry, painting etc. as well as gardening, harvesting produce, cooking and almost anything else you can think of. We are not looking for any particular skills, just people who are enthusiastic, hard working and fun to hang out and chat with! We are only looking for helpers for 1 - 2 weeks maximum.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Accommodation will be in our house, in the spare bedroom. We will provide 3 meals a day in exchange for 5 hours work per day. We are not vegetarian but are more than happy to accommodate vegetarians!

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  What else ...

  There is very limited public transport to our village so having your own vehicle may be useful, however there are many bus and train links to Chirpan from all over Bulgaria, so it is not essential.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  We have a good internet connection and work online ourselves. We'd happily let you work online a couple of hours a day, as long as it can work around your volunteering here!

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have 2 acres of land where you can park your van! Access can be muddy if the weather is wet, but I'm sure we can manage!

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Please get in touch about pets as we do have animals ourselves.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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