How It All Began
In their late fifties, living in a picturesque village in the south of England, the couple found themselves pausing to reassess the trajectory of their lives. The husband, Jeff, ran his own business in the building industry, while his wife worked as a social worker. Despite the charming setting, they began to question what they truly wanted from the remaining decades of their lives. Was the ultimate goal really a new conservatory, mounting debt, and persistent financial worry?
The seeds of their eventual escape had been planted a decade earlier. Following messy divorces after 25 years of marriage—in which both of their former partners had left them for other people—the pair experienced their own midlife crisis. The wife’s divorce from her headteacher husband had been particularly traumatic, leaving her to start all over again financially at the age of 45.
Soon after they married, Jeff received a £12,000 redundancy payment from a previous job. Rather than choosing the sensible route of paying down their mortgage, they decided to indulge a long-held dream. Guided by the common deathbed regret of failing to pursue one’s deepest aspirations, they opted for an adventure instead of financial caution and decided to invest in a holiday home in the sun.
Where Can You Buy a Property for £12,000?
The initial challenge was finding a property that fit within their modest budget of £12,000. Traditional European sun-destination hotspots such as France and Italy were immediately ruled out as prices were far beyond their reach.
The turning point came when Jeff’s father suggested looking eastward toward Bulgaria. The country had recently joined the European Union, and property prices remained remarkably low. His father predicted that values would soon rise substantially, much like they had in neighboring Romania. Intrigued by the prospect, the couple decided to investigate.
The Property Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams
Carrying the cash in a suitcase, they made their first-ever trip to Bulgaria to inspect potential properties. What they found completely surpassed their wildest expectations. They discovered a large, detached house accompanied by a collection of traditional outbuildings, including a donkey shed, a barn, a chicken coop, a wash house, and a smoke house.
The property was far from move-in ready and required extensive renovation. However, they were not deterred. Jeff’s professional background in the building trade provided them with the practical skills and confidence needed to tackle the extensive restoration work.
Reflecting on the experience, the couple acknowledges that buying property in a country they had never visited before was a risky gamble, heavily fueled by their midlife transition. Yet, looking back, they consider it a risk that paid off entirely. For the next nine years, they maintained a routine of traveling to Bulgaria twice a year—spending one week on intensive renovation projects and another week simply enjoying a holiday. Over time, they grew deeply attached to Bulgarian village life, learning to appreciate the stark contrast between its slower pace and the overwhelming pressures of their everyday existence in England.
Why Did We Leave England?
The rhythm of their bi-annual visits changed drastically nearly a decade after purchasing the property, as life in England presented mounting obstacles. The wife began suffering from serious health problems, while Jeff’s building business encountered severe financial difficulties.
Though workplace stress was a familiar reality for a social worker, things reached a critical juncture when she was forced to take a leave of absence due to dangerously high blood pressure. Compounding these health issues, she also lives with a severe visual impairment. Recent changes to her employer’s computer system had rendered her specialized accessibility software inoperable, making it increasingly difficult to perform her job and leaving her professional future entirely uncertain.
The defining moment arrived unexpectedly one afternoon while she was sitting in her back garden, listening to a posthumous radio interview with British politician Tony Benn. The discussion touched upon the history of slavery before someone posed the question, "Does slavery exist today?"
Benn’s reply triggered an immediate epiphany: "If you have a mortgage, then you are a slave to that mortgage."
For nearly her entire working life, she had struggled simply to keep a roof over her head—a fundamental stability she felt her former husband had never valued. Following her traumatic divorce at 45, which left her practically homeless, she had spent the subsequent decade tirelessly rebuilding her life. Sitting in the quiet of her garden, a simple realization struck her: what was the ultimate purpose of enduring such relentless strain?
She already owned a home in the sun. The logical question followed: why not simply move there permanently?
That single realization set their relocation plan into motion. Over the subsequent months, the couple navigated the logistical transition of leaving the United Kingdom behind to settle in their Bulgarian home, closing the door on decades of financial anxiety and professional burnout to embrace a simpler way of living.
