Bournemouth family who bought Bulgarian farmhouse have no regrets
It's been three years since Lewis and Jordan Vye packed up their rented flat in Bournemouth and moved their family to Bulgaria.The couple had bought a dilapidated farmhouse online for £7,000, only viewing it for the first time when they arrived with their two children and belongings.Despite fond memories of home and now facing a new set of challenges, they insist they have no regrets."I really enjoy my life here and, the truth is, I don't think you could pay me to return - I enjoy it that much," said Mr Vye.
The property in Haskovo Province included a two-acre (0.8 hectare) plot of land, a barn and a house but it had been abandoned for 20 years and, when the family arrived, it was uninhabitable, leaving them no choice but to live in their caravan."We've been working hard," said Mr Vye."It's in a better state now."It's been tough - I don't come from a building background and we had no choice but to renovate this property. That in itself has been stressful."The pair have been documenting their progress on social media, watched by hundreds of thousands of followers.Ms Vye said: "It's great for us because we get to look back and see how bad it was and how far we've come."I'm not going to lie and say there are things we don't miss [about England] but I'm definitely closer to the life I want."
The couple say they were inspired after "binge watching" Ben Fogle's TV series, New Lives in the Wild, about people starting new lives in remote places.Life went full circle when, earlier this year, they appeared on their own episode of the Channel 5 show."Oh man, what a dream come true," said Mr Vye."We wouldn't be here without watching that because it gave us the courage to get up and go for it ourselves."We've lived the majority of our lives in Bournemouth - it's not that we've got a bad thing to say about it - but it was time for us to go on a different adventure."
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The Sun
31 minutes ago
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The Sun
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The Guardian
37 minutes ago
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