{"id":3084,"date":"2026-09-08T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/?p=3084"},"modified":"2026-09-04T13:49:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T12:49:01","slug":"an-ashbourne-couple-kept-the-irish-house-and-bought-a-second-one-in-bulgaria-for-e24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/an-ashbourne-couple-kept-the-irish-house-and-bought-a-second-one-in-bulgaria-for-e24\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ashbourne couple kept the Irish house and bought a second one in Bulgaria for \u20ac24 000"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>They didn\u2019t plan to become <strong>accidental<\/strong> homeowners on two fronts. A pair from <strong>Ashbourne<\/strong> simply wanted more space, more light, and a little more <strong>adventure<\/strong> than a commuter-belt routine could offer.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>What they found instead was a story so odd it sounds like a <strong>misprint<\/strong>. A village in Bulgaria, a municipal <strong>auction<\/strong>, and a figure so tiny it barely buys lunch. \u201cWhen we tell friends the price, they <strong>laugh<\/strong> first,\u201d says Aoife. \u201cThen they ask for the <strong>link<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The Irish mortgage stayed put. The passports got <strong>busy<\/strong>. And a farmhouse key\u2014costing less than a Friday <strong>takeaway<\/strong>\u2014opened a very different kind of <strong>weekend<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>From commuter town to cross\u2011border living<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>They weren\u2019t chasing a <strong>fantasy<\/strong> of endless summers. \u201cWe wanted a place to <strong>switch off<\/strong>,\u201d says Mark. Somewhere quiet, somewhere <strong>walkable<\/strong>, and somewhere with trains that still feel like <strong>time<\/strong> travel.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Bulgaria kept cropping up in late\u2011night <strong>searches<\/strong>. Low prices, generous <strong>gardens<\/strong>, and a pace so relaxed it makes Sunday feel like <strong>default<\/strong> mode. The more they looked, the more the map kept pointing <strong>east<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>The \u20ac24 twist<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how the eyebrow\u2011raising <strong>number<\/strong> happened. Many rural Bulgarian municipalities dispose of long\u2011abandoned <strong>properties<\/strong> through public auctions. Sometimes the starting bids are tiny, reflecting the cost of <strong>rescue<\/strong>, not the cost of <strong>bricks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The pair bid on a derelict <strong>farmhouse<\/strong> with a sagging roof and a cherry tree that still <strong>insisted<\/strong> on fruit. The winning bid? 48 leva\u2014about \u20ac24 at the day\u2019s <strong>rate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u20ac24 sounds like a <strong>typo<\/strong>,\u201d Mark says. \u201cBut the twist is all the <strong>extras<\/strong>. You still pay notary, taxes, surveys, and a few layers of <strong>paperwork<\/strong>. The sticker price is real, but the receipt gets <strong>longer<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Renovation on a shoestring<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>They didn\u2019t hire a <strong>crew<\/strong>. They hired <strong>time<\/strong>. Spring was for clearing brambles. Summer was for roof <strong>patches<\/strong> and limewash. Autumn was for windows that actually <strong>closed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>They leaned on local <strong>craftspeople<\/strong> for the fiddly bits. A mason who swore by <strong>chalk<\/strong>, a joiner who worked by <strong>sunlight<\/strong>, and a neighbor who traded plums for a borrowed <strong>ladder<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe learned the word for <strong>gutter<\/strong> before we learned the word for <strong>hello<\/strong>,\u201d Aoife admits. She still swears by Bulgarian <strong>lime<\/strong> and Irish <strong>stubbornness<\/strong> as the perfect renovation <strong>mix<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Two rhythms, one relationship<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Most months, they alternate <strong>weeks<\/strong>. One week of school runs, mortgage <strong>debts<\/strong>, and bin day in <strong>Meath<\/strong>. One week of roosters, long <strong>dinners<\/strong>, and stars you can actually <strong>count<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Flights are not <strong>glamorous<\/strong>. Buses get <strong>missed<\/strong>. There\u2019s always a plug adapter stuck in a <strong>jacket<\/strong>. But the contrasts sharpen their <strong>days<\/strong>. \u201cIreland is where our roots are,\u201d Aoife says. \u201cBulgaria gives us <strong>branches<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>What it really costs<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The house was \u20ac24. The reality is <strong>wider<\/strong>. By the time they added notary <strong>fees<\/strong>, registration, basic <strong>repairs<\/strong>, and several bursts of unplanned <strong>plumbing<\/strong>, the total crept toward a modest few <strong>thousand<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Ongoing costs are <strong>lean<\/strong>. Property taxes are low, utilities are <strong>seasonal<\/strong>, and neighbors swap jars and <strong>know\u2011how<\/strong> like it\u2019s still normal <strong>currency<\/strong>. \u201cThe value isn\u2019t in <strong>square<\/strong> meters,\u201d Mark says. \u201cIt\u2019s in quiet, and <strong>time<\/strong> you remember.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>If you\u2019re tempted<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Research municipal <strong>auctions<\/strong>, but expect to spend on due diligence, not just the <strong>hammer<\/strong> price.  <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Visit in the off\u2011season to hear the wind and test the <strong>boiler<\/strong>.  <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Bring a translator for contracts, surveys, and <strong>boundaries<\/strong>.  <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Budget for surprises: roofs, drains, and paperwork <strong>loops<\/strong>.  <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Meet the mayor and the neighbors; they are your first and best <strong>contractors<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Community and culture<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The social fabric is <strong>thick<\/strong>. Harvest festivals mark the <strong>calendar<\/strong>. Homemade rakia appears like clockwork, and gossip travels <strong>faster<\/strong> than Wi\u2011Fi. \u201cWe showed up with biscuits,\u201d says <strong>Aoife<\/strong>. \u201cWe left with pickles, recipes, and three unsolicited chicken <strong>strategies<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not a curated <strong>dream<\/strong>. It\u2019s a real village, with real <strong>weather<\/strong>, and real opinions about where the best tomatoes <strong>grow<\/strong>. They learned enough Bulgarian to be <strong>polite<\/strong>, and enough to know when to keep <strong>listening<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Banking the unexpected<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Strange things happen when your second home costs less than a <strong>train<\/strong> ticket. You stop equating meaning with <strong>price<\/strong>. You start counting days by sunrise and <strong>bread<\/strong>. You remember the relief of finishing a job with two <strong>hands<\/strong>, not an <strong>app<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople think we pulled off a <strong>hack<\/strong>,\u201d Mark shrugs. \u201cWe didn\u2019t. We just said yes to a broken house and a long list of <strong>verbs<\/strong>\u2014clean, mend, carry, share.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>What they learned<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Their Irish life is still <strong>home<\/strong>. The Bulgarian place is a <strong>counterpoint<\/strong>. A rhythm instrument in the back of the <strong>band<\/strong> that makes everything steadier and more <strong>felt<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll keep both <strong>keys<\/strong> for now. Some seasons will tilt toward <strong>Ashbourne<\/strong>, others toward orchards and pepper <strong>smoke<\/strong>. Somewhere between the two, they found something quietly <strong>extravagant<\/strong>\u2014the kind of wealth you count in <strong>weekends<\/strong>, neighbor waves, and the sound a wooden door makes when it finally <strong>fits<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3084"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3135,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084\/revisions\/3135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}