Beautiful Bulgaria
The villa is set in the quiet village of Bezvoditsa, situated in the gentle rolling hills of the Bulgarian countryside yet it’s just a 10 minute drive from Dobrich and a 20 minute drive from Balchik. The resorts of Albena and Golden Sands are just a few more minutes away with Bulgaria’s second city, Varna, another 10 minutes along the coastal road.
Bezvoditsa is gloriously peaceful with very little traffic – donkey and cart being the locals’ favoured mode of transport – and it has a village shop serving fresh local produce to cater for your daily needs. The village is also situated on one of the 2 main global stork thoroughfares, giving opportunity to see these amazing birds in flight or nesting nearby in seasonal times.
A car is recommended to enjoy the area to the full. Traffic in this part of the Black Sea coast is very light and traffic jams are unheard of. (The owners can supply you with details of very good value car-hire) To give you a small flavour of the area, all of the following can be reached within a maximum of 45 minutes from the villla.
VARNA: 45 minutes away. Bulgarias third largest city and possibly its most atmospheric. It offers a fabulous beach separated from the city by a wooded seaside park bursting with people and festivals throughout the summer and a wonderful place for evening strolls. In the park you will find the Natural History Museum and an Aquarium, introducing the plant and animal life of the coast, as well as a Dolphinarium. The city itself boasts numerous bars, cafes and restaurants offering everything from Macdonalds to 5-star cuisine. Shopping in Varna is superb too with leather goods, shoes and embroidery amongst the best buys.
DOBRICH: 10 minutes. Renowned for both its arts and crafts and the quality of the agricultural produce grown in the surrounding fertile plain. Being a genuine working town, prices in Dobrich are reckoned to be amongst the lowest in Bulgaria. The town centre is peppered with cafes and restaurants offering good quality fare at amazingly low prices. "Old Dobrich" is a small "open-air" museum located in the centre and houses about 30 workshops where craftsmen practice their skills. You can see workshops for pottery, furriery, traditional costumes, traditional instruments woodcarving, coppersmiths, goldsmiths and many more.
BALCHIK: 20 minutes. A picturesque old town nestling below weathered white-chalk cliffs and home to the Summer Palace of Queen Marie - a collection of laneways, watermills and glorious gardens. And with its outdoor restaurants lining the seafront in the old port, Balchik is well worth a visit in the evenings too.
KALIAKRA CAPE: 35 minutes. Part of the Kaliakra (meaning beautiful) nature reserve, the cape stretches 2km deep into the sea and consists of 60-70m-high limestone rocks, the inaccessibility of which was the main reason for the construction of an ancient fortress used successively by Tracians, Romans and Byzantines, the remains of which can be seen today. The cape was declared a protected area in 1941 and is a wonderful place to watch dolphins and seals whilst further inland the wetlands are home to over 300 species of birds
ALBENA: 30 minutes. A modern resort situated on a long sandy stretch and the most modern resort along the Bulgarian coast. The resort is rich in tennis courts, swimming pools, and children’s playgrounds and tourists can rent bikes, cars, cutters, sail-boats, yachts, waterwheels and jets, or even saddle up and take a horse ride.
GOLDEN SANDS: 40 minutes. Famous for its nice golden sand and long beaches, this is the largest resort on the Northern Black Sea coast, with richly wooded hills and clear blue sea. Golden Sands has wonderful conditions for recreation, entertainment, sport and spa treatment. It is a paradise for children and has been awarded the prestigious Blue Flag prize several times.
The Villa
Enjoy your holiday in a fully refurbished and contemporary furnished villa consisting of 3 floors and private gardens with pool and sun terrace.
On the ground floor you’ll find a fully-fitted kitchen with breakfast bar, electric oven, fridge, freezer, microwave, washing machine, kettle and toaster etc. The kitchen opens on to its own terrace, ideal for breakfast in the sun and comes complete with all the cooking utensils, crockery and cutlery you could need.
The open plan living and dining area looks out over the sunny gardens and runs the entire width of the house with French doors leading out onto the patio, barbecue, pool and garden.
The large dining table accommodates 8 adults comfortably as does the sofa-seating in the living area which also contains a TV with DVD/CD player.
Although the villa comfortably accommodates 10 occupants, the sofa can also be made up into a double bed allowing for a further 2 people.
The ground floor also has its own bathroom with wash-basin and full sized bath, ideal to soak away the day’s exertions.
A few steps down in the villa’s cellar you will find an iron and ironing board, a safe to store any valuables, passports etc and a paddling pool for the wee ones.
There are three bedrooms on the first floor. Bedroom 1 at the front of the house has a double bed, en-suite shower room with wash-basin and toilet. The bedroom boasts its own balcony with views over the Bulgarian countryside and nearby stork nests.
Bedroom 2 is another double with picture windows to the west and the south overlooking the garden. Bedroom 3 is a large twin-bedded room overlooking the garden. Each of these bedrooms have their own access to a shared shower room with wash basin and WC.
Two further bedrooms can be found on the second floor. Bedroom 4 is a large 3-bedded room overlooking the gardens while bedroom 5 is a small single at the front of the house with a small private balcony giving magnificent views over the countryside.
The second floor has its own shower room with wash-basin and toilet.
All the bedrooms are fully furnished and are supplied with towels and bed-linen.
The Grounds
The grounds are securely fenced and being south facing, get the sun all day long.
The gardens are laid mainly to grass, ideal for the kids to run around safely and feature a swimming pool with decked area, a patio with sun-loungers, garden table and chairs with large parasol. The patio also features a Greek-style Oven for perfect barbecues.
There is exterior lighting at both the front and the back of the villa.
Double gates allow for up to two cars to park off-road at the side of the villa and there is parking for another two vehicles in front of the house.
Country Life
Bezvoditsa is a small village and although the modern bustling Black Sea resorts are easily accessible, the villa offers you the opportunity to sample the real Bulgaria as well. Most of the villagers are small-holders who live off the land and you’ll find their geese, ducks and chickens freely roaming the streets.
One great benefit of village living is that all this fresh organically grown local produce is available from the village shop which also stocks any basics you might have run out of, from toilet tissue, toothpaste and washing powder to eggs, milk, butter, wine and beer. And don’t worry about not speaking Bulgarian. The Bulgarians are a very friendly people and with several English families having bought homes in the village they are very good at communicating without language. However, there is a phrase book in the villa which can prove quite useful for these village shopping trips. Finally its worth mentioning that although it’s peaceful, it’s certainly not a backwater and unlike many other villages in the area it is reached via a tarmac road and even has street lighting.