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Tuesday 31 May 2016

101. A very tame anniversary and gearing up (or rather, clearing up) for visitors

Last weekend we celebrated 10 years together. I don’t know where the time has gone. It’s lovely to think that half that time has been spent in Bulgaria working towards our big and crazy dreams. I’m not a sentimental person but I couldn’t ask for a better partner, co-adventurer and lumberjack.

Anyway, nothing says celebrate like getting away from the washing up and cats for a night. So that’s what we did. We trundled off to Troyan Monastery, went to a pottery museum and stayed in a little guesthouse in a quiet village. Oh, how we’ve aged. Still, it’s better than our 8th anniversary, where we celebrated by going to Ikea and buying a new sink.

If anyone wants a rustic, romantic guesthouse and restaurant near Troyan/Lovech, I highly recommend Dedovite Kashti in Staro Sefanovo. The room was very quaint and the food was AMAZING. We had a four-course meal with a litre of homemade wine and it came to less than £25.

Troyan Monastery.

More exciting monastery action.

Dedovite Kashti guesthouse. 

Staro Stefanovo village.

Nothing but old houses. Did I mention this was way better than
going to Ikea and buying a sink? Well, it was.

Stara Planina mountains in the distance.

We’ve got friends coming to stay this week so it’s back to reality with a bump as we try to get the house and garden looking presentable. Rob finished an important job last week – a big new woodstore holding around 12 sqm of wood – which frees up a ton of space in the garden. We’re now left with a nice flat, empty area under the mulberry tree, next to the summer kitchen. Eventually we plan to terrace this space and put hammocks up. For now, there’s lots of sticks, wood shavings and general rubble to admire. And I’m sure our guests will love that.

Eeeesh.

Ah, that's better.

Breaking polytunnel news: the tomatoes are now about two feet tall so they’ve been tied up securely. We usually do individual stakes for each plant but this year Rob has rigged up an ingenious system using less wood and more string, which saves time and looks nicer. There’s no sign of any tomatoes yet, but we usually have cherry toms at the end of June. Not much else happening in the garden right now, except that we are balls-deep in strawberries.

Grow, grow, grow.

Today's haul.

The weather is still really changeable, with baking sunshine one day and torrential rain the next. I’ve no idea what’s in store for our visitors. There’s not a great deal to do in rural Bulgaria when it’s raining so, if you don’t hear from me again, I’ve probably been murdered by my friends in a fit of Scrabble-induced insanity.