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[ DOBRINA COTTAGE ]
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Located in the village of Dobrina,
municipality of Provadiya,
province of Varna,
North-Eastern Bulgaria.
municipality of Provadiya,
province of Varna,
North-Eastern Bulgaria.
Dobrina Cottage is kitted out simply, yet comfortably enough for summer occupation.
This house says YES to basic needs, but NO to modern luxuries,
YES to observing the life of a working village, but NO to television and video games,
YES to exploring the open countryside with its forgotten ancient remains,
YES to relaxing into an uncomplicated, unhurried way of life,
YES to choosing whether to simply take it easy, or chop wood and cook over campfires,
and YES to a tiny carbon footprint and living in harmony with one's surroundings!
Bulgaria is one of the
last
places left in Europe where you can still find yourself in the
midst of proper old-fashioned village life. In the village of Dobrina the traditional ways of living off the land
are still the norm. The village spreads out on a wide-open mountain plateau, with panoramic
views from the top of the village towards the peaks of the Balkan mountains in the West and the South.
We as the owners very much enjoy Dobrina Cottage as our base for holidays; sometimes just taking it easy,
other times walking, exploring and discovering and uncovering Bulgaria's rich history all around us and even right under our feet.
You are most welcome to "borrow" Dobrina Cottage when we are not there ourselves.
Just ask!
We as the owners very much enjoy Dobrina Cottage as our base for holidays; sometimes just taking it easy,
other times walking, exploring and discovering and uncovering Bulgaria's rich history all around us and even right under our feet.
You are most welcome to "borrow" Dobrina Cottage when we are not there ourselves.
Just ask!
This is what Dobrina Cottage looks like:
BELOW: Dobrina Cottage just before we bought it in 2005.
We bought Dobrina Cottage in 2005, and continue to
thoroughly enjoy it as our base for holidaying in Bulgaria, several times
a year. Sunshine is more or less the norm from
about May until end of September, with temperatures between 20C and 30C,
rising higher during July and August.
The cottage is a stone building, from 1957, consisting of four rooms and now also a modern wetroom / bathroom. According to local historians the stone is certain to have been sourced at some point from the nearby mediaeval Ovech Fortress (see Links page) which fell into disrepair hundreds of years ago. Building stone can be reused endlessly, and all the older houses in Dobrina (including ours) are said to be made of this beautiful limestone, full of large fossils.
The upstairs rooms of Dobrina Cottage retain their original wooden floors, painted a traditional dark brown, whilst the downstairs floors have mostly ceramic tiles. The interior walls are painted white, over plaster on stone. The ceilings are also painted white, over lath and plaster. The windows have solid insect screens for ventilation; we are NOT planning to install modern air conditioning! The bedroom - upstairs - sleeps two people, and the sitting room - also upstairs - has two sofas perfect for sleeping on. There is also a foam mattress for camping on the floor.
The plot of land of Dobrina Cottage is about 1500 square metres, with stone walls and gates around it. There are several grape vines, fruit trees, a walnut tree and a couple of almond trees there. Instead of a lawn the ground is covered with alfalfa, grown for our neighbour's donkey's winter fodder, but it is robust enough for running about on all summer.
Dobrina village sits on a mountain plateau ("Dobrinsko Plato"), with panoramic views from the top of the village towards the higher peaks of the Balkan mountains in the West and South. The village is well away from busy tourist areas, but the big city of Varna and the beaches of the Black Sea are less than an hour away by car (or taxi - surprisingly cheap). There is also a train halt, about 40 minutes walk down the winding mountain road, in Provadiya town, and a main station at the opposite end of Provadiya.
The town of Provadiya is deep down in a long gorge just below the village, and it is the place to go for restaurants, supermarkets, internet cafe, hardware stores, drycleaners, chemists and such, as well as museums. We usually walk down to Provadiya, and take a taxi back up to Dobrina.
There are a couple of tiny general stores in Dobrina as well, and they double as eating and drinking places. It is possible to buy eggs directly from a small farm, and fresh milk from a neighbour's one and only cow. Another neighbour makes wonderfully silky sheep's milk yogurt. Garden produce can also be bought by asking around.
Instead of an actual kitchen we have a portable two-burner gas hob which allows cooking wherever we fancy - very often outdoors, with the stove popped on top of an old wine barrel. We also enjoy improvising cooking fires out in the garden (which is more like a large field in fact). Frying pancakes over a camp fire, gathering dry branches, chopping logs, getting all smokey and grubby - it really is a wonderfully easy way to get a taste of living like a care-free savage! However, we do actually have a fridge, coffee machine and toaster in a downstairs room together with a dining table and the usual cooking and eating paraphernalia. (For more info click on "Food".)
The cottage is a stone building, from 1957, consisting of four rooms and now also a modern wetroom / bathroom. According to local historians the stone is certain to have been sourced at some point from the nearby mediaeval Ovech Fortress (see Links page) which fell into disrepair hundreds of years ago. Building stone can be reused endlessly, and all the older houses in Dobrina (including ours) are said to be made of this beautiful limestone, full of large fossils.
The upstairs rooms of Dobrina Cottage retain their original wooden floors, painted a traditional dark brown, whilst the downstairs floors have mostly ceramic tiles. The interior walls are painted white, over plaster on stone. The ceilings are also painted white, over lath and plaster. The windows have solid insect screens for ventilation; we are NOT planning to install modern air conditioning! The bedroom - upstairs - sleeps two people, and the sitting room - also upstairs - has two sofas perfect for sleeping on. There is also a foam mattress for camping on the floor.
The plot of land of Dobrina Cottage is about 1500 square metres, with stone walls and gates around it. There are several grape vines, fruit trees, a walnut tree and a couple of almond trees there. Instead of a lawn the ground is covered with alfalfa, grown for our neighbour's donkey's winter fodder, but it is robust enough for running about on all summer.
Dobrina village sits on a mountain plateau ("Dobrinsko Plato"), with panoramic views from the top of the village towards the higher peaks of the Balkan mountains in the West and South. The village is well away from busy tourist areas, but the big city of Varna and the beaches of the Black Sea are less than an hour away by car (or taxi - surprisingly cheap). There is also a train halt, about 40 minutes walk down the winding mountain road, in Provadiya town, and a main station at the opposite end of Provadiya.
The town of Provadiya is deep down in a long gorge just below the village, and it is the place to go for restaurants, supermarkets, internet cafe, hardware stores, drycleaners, chemists and such, as well as museums. We usually walk down to Provadiya, and take a taxi back up to Dobrina.
There are a couple of tiny general stores in Dobrina as well, and they double as eating and drinking places. It is possible to buy eggs directly from a small farm, and fresh milk from a neighbour's one and only cow. Another neighbour makes wonderfully silky sheep's milk yogurt. Garden produce can also be bought by asking around.
Instead of an actual kitchen we have a portable two-burner gas hob which allows cooking wherever we fancy - very often outdoors, with the stove popped on top of an old wine barrel. We also enjoy improvising cooking fires out in the garden (which is more like a large field in fact). Frying pancakes over a camp fire, gathering dry branches, chopping logs, getting all smokey and grubby - it really is a wonderfully easy way to get a taste of living like a care-free savage! However, we do actually have a fridge, coffee machine and toaster in a downstairs room together with a dining table and the usual cooking and eating paraphernalia. (For more info click on "Food".)
We have found the people in the village warm‐hearted, welcoming and very sociable, without exception. Brief
visits to neighbours every day seem to be the norm here, and we are
continuously overwhelmed by generous gifts of garden surplus being brought to us. We are for ever wracking our brains for what to give in return!
We very much liked the traditional simplicity of the cottage, but for
the sake of comfort have had the plumbing and electrics re‐done, and put
in new woodframed windows and outside doors. The doors are copies of the original ones. There are also fixed
insect screens at the windows now.
ABOVE - NOW: The new hardwood windows and doors.
BELOW - BEFORE: The sweet and romantic but broken and drafty original doors and windows.
We have installed a modern, completely tiled wetroom which contains a toilet, small handbasin, a shower, a sink unit, and a very efficient hot water boiler. This room is on the gound floor and accessed through a door in the front yard.
ABOVE: The new plumbing.
BELOW: The old facilities.
BELOW: The old facilities.
We have some
outbuildings as well - one of them older than the
house. We have left the spaces used for chickens, sheep and a donkey untouched, as reminders of the past (except that Neil actually restored the broken donkey manger). There was lot of interesting junk in the outbuildings; wine barrels, oil drums, old tools...
ABOVE & BELOW: The outbuildings.
HOW TO FIND DOBRINA ON GOOGLE EARTH:
If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, find the box in the "Fly To" tab in the Search area, and copy and paste into it these co-ordinates: 43°10'42.08"N 27°27'43.90"E