Creating an Artist Retreat in an old world village in Voditsa, Bulgaria

Details

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  Description

  Next Opportunity
  🌻🎨 SPRING 2026 🎨🌻
  
  We are American dreamers, travelers, artists, veteran workawayers and now hosts too! 👏
  
  But only a few months each year as we are still adventure seeking 🎒nomads most of the time.
  
  We have global perspective and lots of stories to share.
  
  Enjoy hearing those of others as well through words or music.
  
  Come help us continue the journey of turning this wonderful old homestead into a retreat for artists from around the world.
  
  Looking for willing, flexible and enthusiastic helping hands. Skills appreciated but not essential. So many possibilities. Can likely find a project to fit most any interest and ability level.
  
  There’s art installations envision and make, barns to sort, vines to tame, cracks to patch, walls to paint and fruit trees to trim. Plenty to do but also fun to be had.
  
  This year’s retreat (April-June 2025) attracted artists and helping hands from three different countries and their additions included interior and exterior local nature inspired murals 😍 which included adding an exciting pop of color to our front gate with an Eastern European inspired design (the village loves it), a patio wall magical mosaic with a mix of new and old tile, as well as some shards of traditional Bulgarian pottery, a “Baba bench” redo… it’s a village thing 🤗, whimsical paint and designs up the handrail to the volunteer quarters, lovely Art Nouveau style designs on the bedroom doors👏, an exterior door rehab with colorful paint accent, and a new cottage art addition in the form of a whimsical critter built out of dried gourds,
  
  This art retreat very much seeks to bring out the creativity in a fun and relaxed environment.
  
  On the practical side, we also accomplished adding a fresh coat of paint on part of the front of the house, restacking the vintage handmade tiles along the garden wall (as is traditional here), added support to stabilize some barn sagging (easier than expected), some vineyard maintenance, some invasive vine control, a bit of this and that.
  
  We were very fortunate to attract artists that also had cooking skills and who made several specialty dishes, enjoyed by us as as well as village friends.
  
  This year’s creative environment was enhanced by food, music, dance, games, and considerable frivolity. Rigid schedules were not needed because guests were self motivated and inspired. I gave guidance, but they brought the ideas and given considerable artistic freedom.
  
  Those who consider themselves minimally creative and are willing to help us tackle some of the challenging grungy jobs are very welcome too.
  
  Dreams for Spring 2026 🤗
  creating a communal fire ring area , continued transformation of the corn crib into a hang space with a view, more mosaic projects, this way/that way sign post to document where artists and helpers have come from, continuing reclamation of the property from nature tackling overgrowth, starting the demo and clean out of the interior of the second house that we dream of making into a music space and whatever else we may come up with to make this village property the most fun and inviting artists retreat ever.
  
  Outside our gate, old world village life is slow, simple and quiet. You’ll get plenty of time to explore and enjoy experiencing the charm in an unspoiled natural setting.
  
  Meet the donkey across the way. Wake up to songbirds and crisp clean air. Get lucky and watch the goat herder heading home around sunset. Visit the village ethnographic museum. Ride the weekday local bus into town (Popovo) for a relaxing day and/or take a bus or train to explore more of Bulgaria on your days off if you’d like. The Black Sea coast, the Danube River and the charming towns of Veliko Turnovo are all just a few hours away.
  
  I’ll do my best to provide plenty of food, and to make your stay enjoyable, gratifying, and interesting.
  
  It’s a little bit like camping indoors so you have to lean into being adaptable. :)
  
  We do expect respectful appreciative attitudes and a willingness to learn.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Videography

  

  Van life

  

  Technology

  

  Self development

  

  Sustainability

  

  Politics / Social justice

  

  Farming

  

  Events & social

  

  Culture

  

  Charity work

  

  Writing

  

  Plant care

  

  Photography

  

  Languages

  

  History

  

  Gardening

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Blogging

  

  Art & design

  

  Nature

  

  Dancing

  

  Camping
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Cultural opportunities:
  Our village currently has under 400 residents but it’s heyday during communism, it had 10 times that many so there’s actually a community building with a library and a small ethnographic museum.
  
  On occasion festivals are held in the Village Square and traditional dancing takes place out front.
  
  An excursion to Popovo on Fridays, about half an hour by bus, can be extra fun as it is their market day. Local vendors set up stalls featuring items both new and used. And there’s also a covered outdoor farmers market where they sell some plants, assorted produce, meats and cheeses. The shops around the edges can be very interesting to someone who has not visited Eastern Europe. They give a considerable insight into daily lives by the wares that they sell. The town features a nice promenade area with cafés where locals and families like to relax and stroll. There’s also a history museum that’s been recently renovated and has a collection of findings from the nearby Roman ruins.
  
  There’s a bit of nightlife to be found in Popovo and a return taxi to the village runs around $12USD. I can direct you to a few restaurants in town that prepare local specialties at reasonable prices and also feature some great old world atmosphere. You might even get to dance local style if there are any celebrations going on. The Bulgarian locals typically love visitors jumping in and giving it a try.
  
  The little bus that runs back-and-forth to Popovo on weekdays, doesn’t just go down the main road, but leads through other nearby villages, giving a very off the beaten path opportunity to look around.
  
  Bulgaria is a bit more shabby than chic, but we love it and hope you will too. They have not yet runoff all the birds and the bees nor succumbed to manicured lawns. The nature is spectacular, raw and the air is sweet.
  
  Things are changing fast, but it truly still is an opportunity to travel back in time and as we put it, live big on little.

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  Help

  Spring ‘25 I’m hosting solo while my husband is in the states working
  
  * I could really use somebody who would enjoy tackling the cleaning out and sorting in my barns and old partial cellar space- no telling what we might find!
  * I have a big bag of beautiful dried small gourds that could be converted into hanging lamps and hung around the vineyard to light up the patio- I’m happy to get the tools needed for a project like this if someone is interested
  * I have lots of old, traditional clay tiles- in Bulgaria they’re called gypsy tiles. They are handmade and could lend themselves to all kinds of creative applications.
  * if anyone knows how to apply traditional rendering that would be a great and helpful skill
  * I could use somebody that knows how to trim out fruit trees
  * I could use some muscles to help me get some things cleared and in piles so I can get it hauled off the property
  * I could use someone who loves to organize to go through several bags of old clothing and get it into smaller more manageable packages to store up in the attic
  * I could use someone who likes to clean who would be willing to tackle the second old house on this property that I’ve yet to even take on at all
  
  Lots of possibilities :)
  I very much like to try to match volunteers up with their interests and abilities.
  
  Please know that documentation is important to me. I will be capturing images and videos to share for the purposes of inspiring others.
  
  Opportunities like this can be life-changing.
  I know from personal experience!
  If any of this sounds like fun to you reach out to me. I have room for up to six volunteers. I would love to have lots of busy helpers, making magic and memories.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  German: Intermediate
  French: Intermediate
  Bulgarian: Beginner
  Spanish: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  Very keen to improve my Bulgarian.
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  Accommodation

  Two upstairs guest bedrooms. One extra couch in my studio for over flow.
  
  The heart of the home is the outdoor patio and summer kitchen,
  
  It may be a bit cool at night in spring. There’s no heating upstairs but plenty of blankets.
  
  I don’t have a washer. You’re welcome to handwash in my outdoor sink.
  
  The shared bathroom is downstairs - a simple wet room w/ a handheld shower and a toilet that you flush with a bucket. Hot showers are available, but you’ll need to turn the hot water heater on and wait a bit.
  
  I’ll have plenty of food on hand and may cook once in awhile depending on how busy it is. The hours you spend helping will depend on whether or not you need my help or guidance. If you’re all set to get going, which hours of the day you spend matters not to me. I would appreciate a good four hours a day of help but how you wanna break that up doesn’t matter if it’s not inconveniencing anyone else. If you have special food requirements, please let me know ahead so i can determine if I’m able to accommodate you. If you want or need more of a selection than what I provide there are two small stores in the village and additional choices in the nearby town of Popovo, where you can go on weekdays by local bus. Village center is less than a half mile easy walk. Please, all food preparation and eating is to be done outdoors. Please let’s not invite any critters in. Summer kitchen cleanup, as well as personal dishes are the responsibility of each individual. Volunteers are requested to hand wash their own sheets and towels before leaving.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  My Internet goes out on rare occasion, but generally, it’s quite fast and reliable .

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  Space for parking camper vans

  I have adequate street side parking in front of my home.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

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