Let us meet at the Wolf Den.
Darren appears to be busy at his new home in the Bulgarian village of Velchevo, near Veliko Tarnovo. He comes across as a friendly, modest, and hard-working individual. He is someone who dedicated 25 years of his life to a career as a train driver in England. When Darren officially retired he was able to look at options to escape the fast pace of life in England. Now, our host is busy learning Bulgarian. It is quite an achievement he can already speak more than 1000 words.
The property search
The Englishman arrived in Bulgaria in August 2016 and spent some time property searching before settling in Velchevo. Darren first visited the city of Varna followed by Ruse, Sofia, Montana, and Burgas until he finally discovered Veliko Tarnovo. He is not short of superlatives about this area: “Veliko Tarnovo is a beautiful place” he says.
Initially, together with his wife, they spent 4 days searching the area around Veliko Tarnovo. The couple visited Pavlikeni, Hotnitza, Sevlievo, until they finally found Velchevo. The house they saw there was exactly what they were after and it only took Darren 2 minutes to seal a deal and buy the property.
He is not afraid to disagree with people in England who still associate Bulgaria with a former communist country and home to a gypsy minority. People say this, but they have never visited the country to discover another side of Bulgaria and that is how beautiful Bulgarian nature is. This is another reason for Darren to invite everyone to come and visit.
He and his wife Sue will welcome you to their cozy guest house and English bar with the cool name Wolf Den. If you fancy you can book a room on their website Wolf Den Bulgaria.
Their pub is one of the few which offers a great selection of English lager and ale for the thirsty guests. His guests can also enjoy a game of pool or darts while listening to live music.
Life after Brexit
Darren is the proud owner of a Bulgarian residence card allowing him and his wife to stay in Bulgaria even after Brexit. He did find dealing with the local authorities to be a long-winded process, it took him many trips to the municipality and back to get all his paperwork sorted.
Despite some challenges along the way, Darren is confident he will stay in Bulgaria and he remains positive about the future.
Darren featured on a program on the Bulgarian National TV, check out the link to the video here.
More information is available on how to move to Bulgaria from the UK here.
