Join our creative, nature school near Sofia, Bulgaria

Details

• 

  Description

  ​Hello, my name is Ivan, and I’d like to share our project with you: an innovative creative center in the mountains that unites culture, spirituality, healthy living, and nature-based activities for children.
  
  We are a family of four—my wife Mari, our daughter Viara (4 ½ years old), and our son Boris (1 ½ years old). Our main goal in life is to be as helpful to people and society as we can. About 7 years ago, we began building this place from scratch in the mountains, starting from what was just a wild and empty field.
  
  Our mission is to strengthen the connection between people and nature, as well as the connection between individuals and their higher selves. We organize a wide range of enriching events for both children and adults, including concerts, lectures, spiritual practices, educational activities, crafts, music, creative and scientific projects, permaculture farming, flower growing, healthy cooking, and workshops focused on physical and mental well-being.
  
  All of our events have always been free of charge because we take great joy in working on a volunteer basis. The nature school is our way of contributing to society by promoting culture, creativity, and a deeper connection with the natural world. We are united by our love for children, people, art, culture, beauty, and nature.
  We receive no funding from governments or organizations; instead, we strive to support our work independently. Visitors are welcome to contribute through donations if they wish, but all events remain free.
  
  I moved to the United States at age 15, where I completed high school and worked various jobs for about 10 years before returning to Bulgaria. Around 15 years ago, I made a significant life change—I bought a caravan and moved into the mountains to live close to wildlife. This experience deepened my connection with nature, purified my spirit, and reshaped my priorities.
  
  After three years of living alone, I began inviting like-minded people to join me, forming a small community. Our first location was remote, accessible only via a 4–5 km dirt road. It wasn't long until I realized I wanted to share the experience of living close to nature with more people. That desire led to the idea of creating a nature school that would be easily accessible and open to everyone, free of charge. Voluntary donations were welcomed but never required.
  
  A friend who supported this idea donated a small piece of unused land. I built a dome house there for the community members to live in. Over the next three years, we developed a lake, gardens, a greenhouse, another dome, and a workshop. As school groups and families began visiting, interest in our activities grew.
  However, unexpectedly, the friend who donated the land asked for it back. Despite my willingness to purchase it, he refused to sell. This was a painful but valuable lesson about trusting verbal agreements without legal documentation. I had to decide whether to give up or start over. I chose to start over because of the positive impact this lifestyle and these activities had on people, especially children.
  
  I knew I needed to buy land first. This was my fourth time building from nothing—creating water and electricity supplies, buildings, gardens, workshops, and more. This time, I carefully considered location and accessibility. Since a large percentage of Bulgaria’s population lives in the capital, Sofia, I decided to establish the project near the city.
  
  So this was about seven years ago when I found a beautiful piece of wild land near the village of Yarlovo, just 30–40 minutes from Sofia. At an altitude of over 1,100 meters, it’s surrounded by wildlife, forests, and a national park. I also decided to end my experiment of living in a community, as it required too much of my time and energy. Instead, I dedicated myself to building the nature school. Around this time, I also started my family, and this project became our shared mission.
  
  My wife, Mari, is a professional musician with a master’s degree in classical flute. She also studied Food, Nutrition, and Dietetics. Her passions include music, writing, poetry, gardening, drawing, family life, and promoting a healthy lifestyle. She has experience teaching in private schools and frequently performs classical concerts. She manages the Nature School’s social media presence and fills our events with creativity and music.
  Music is a major part of our project, which is why we built a large dome called Acapella with beautiful acoustics. Another key part of our work for over 14 years has been growing einkorn, the most ancient variety of wheat. At our events, we often teach children how to prepare and bake their own bread.
  
  We are vegetarians striving to live in an environmentally friendly way. It’s essential for us that our volunteers and collaborators value honesty, respect, and positive relationships.
  I mainly build everything myself, gaining experience in areas like innovative construction, solar power, electrical and water systems, mechanics, permaculture, gardening, and building various structures like lakes, domes, workshops, and greenhouses. I’ve also gained experience in creating and managing communities, organizing large-scale events, and working on diverse projects. I’m always happy to share my knowledge if it can be helpful.
  Since we don’t rely on external funding, I focus on making everything as affordable as possible. I primarily use recycled or defective materials. Our house is built on a trailer, and I also have experience with other cost-effective housing solutions, such as container homes. Wood and glass are my favorite building materials. We prefer living a simple life with low expenses as this gives us more freedom and time for creativity and work on things we believe in.
  For our visitors and volunteers, we have several accommodation options, most of which are caravans with extension rooms and 3 domes.
  
  Thank you for taking the time to read about our project. If you find our work inspiring, we would love to meet you someday!

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  General Maintenance
• 

  Interests

  

  Farming

  

  Self development

  

  Events & social

  

  Culture

  

  Charity work

  

  Writing

  

  Gardening

  

  Art & design

  

  Music

  

  Camping

  

  Hiking
• 

  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

  ...

  ...

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  What's this?
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We have such a rich, multidimensional space, we `re in a position to create deep and meaningful cultural exchanges.
  Helping with building, gardening, cooking, or events
  Sharing meals, stories, and cultural traditions.
  Teaching each other crafts, languages, or music
  Practicing spiritual or meditative traditions together
  🎶 2. Music & Arts
  With Mari’s musical background and our acoustically beautiful dome, we could offer a creative residency for:
  Musicians, composers, or sound healers
  Writers, poets, or visual artists
  Cultural storytellers or traditional dancers
  
  🧒 3. Children’s Cultural Exchange Camps
  Cook traditional food from their cultures
  Explore nature
  Share songs, dances, and languages
  Learn gardening or bread-making in our style
  Traditional vegetarian recipes and wellness practices from their homeland
  Herbal medicine and natural remedies
  Cultural rituals around food and health
  
  Exchange knowledge with Bulgarian traditions and practices
  Share songs, spiritual practices, poems, or parenting stories
  Discuss nature and culture in their homeland

• 

  Help

  Help with events, gardening, cleaning and cooking. Creating different wood crafts, arts, fences.

• 

  Languages

  Languages spoken
  Bulgarian: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Macedonian: Intermediate
  Serbian: Intermediate
  Russian: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
• 

  Accommodation

  We have a couple of domes and caravans with extension rooms. Optical internet, power and water supply.
  We grow the eincent wheat, eincorn, and other grains, we also use stone mill and we make our own bread. We also grow some vegetables in the garden. We will buy and provide food for the 3 daily meals for each volunteer. We will arrange with each one if there is any specific food that we need to buy. We have 2 small children so most of the time you will have to cook for your self or one of the volunteers can cook for others.

• 

  What else ...

  We are 40min. away from the Capitol Sofiq, also 40min. from lift to 7th Rila lakes and also 40min to the lift to Musala, the highest peak in Eastern Europe.

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  Can host digital nomads

  This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.

• 

  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

Website Safety