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Creating a village art retreat in Voditsa, Bulgaria

Bulgaria
Last activity : 21 Jul 2026

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Host rating

100 %
Last replied

26 Jun 2026
Reply rate

100.0 %

Usually responds within 2 days
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8
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Country info

If you are not an EU Citizen and planning to visit Bulgaria to work, volunteer or study, YOU WILL NEED THE CORRECT VISA. To find out more information please contact the embassy in your home country BEFORE travelling.

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Availability

2026

Min stay requested: at least a week

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What's this?

Details

Description

Dreamer Doer Traveler from Florida 😎🌴
project: Artist Retreat and Creativity Playground in an old world village, already well underway 😊 🎨🏡

I'm a life long adventurous American transforming a traditional old homestead into a world of whimsy serving as a comfy rejuvenating basecamp between global romps. 🌏🎒

Looking for willing, flexible and enthusiastic helping hands. 👋👋🏻👋🏼👋🏾

Skills appreciated but not essential. 🛠️🪚🧑‍🎨

This art retreat very much seeks to bring out the creativity in a fun and relaxed environment in the context of village life.

Dreams to be realized:
🌼 creative enhancement of courtyard space
🌼 more murals
🌼 open to ideas for embellishment of a view perch and creating a fire circle

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

Wake up to songbirds and crisp clean air.

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.

It’s a little bit like camping indoors so you have to lean into being adaptable. :)
Types of help and learning opportunities

Art Projects

Light gardening

Creative DIY projects

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Light maintenance
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
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

Village life and taste of Bulgarian culture. I'm happy to share about our global travels and adventures and would love to hear about your life as well.

Loose approach to art. Visualizing possibilities with found materials. Adaptation to basic living style. How to slow down and breathe. 🌿
Help

Seeking artists, makers, dreamers, do'ers

plenty to do for non-creatives as well 🤗
* cleaning and sorting old barns
* trimming out fruit trees
* lots of odd tasks

Lots of possibilities :)

Opportunities like this can be life-changing.
we know from personal experience and are happy to pay it forward!

would love to have lots of busy helpers, making magic and memories.
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.
Accommodation

Features of our art retreat:
* simple trad home - easy five minute walk to village center
* Wi-Fi
* Shared toilet room with shower
* Upstairs 2 guest bedrooms (1 dbl- 2 singles)
* Outdoor summer kitchen/patio dining/plenty
of basic food/ please clean after every
use/NO FOOD indoors
* Outdoor sink and clothesline
(please wash bed clothes before leaving)

Features of Village Voditsa (pop 3-400)
* 3 small shops
* weekday bus to Popovo (2.10€ each way)
* community center w/ethnographic museum and library
* small pharmacy
* 24/7 coffee machine in village square
* occasional fests w/trad singing and dancing
* surrounded by farm land and woods
* village fountain on outskirts open to visit- used by shepherds and travelers
* stork's nest
* orthodox church (rare services)
*walking trails

Features town of Popovo (pop 12k)
* Train station (half hour walk into town by shortcut otherwise not pedestrian friendly- Taxi presence unpredictable)
* Bus station
* Taxi stand (approximately €11-€14 to Voditsa- paid in cash)
* Assorted dining options, variety of small grocery stores, traditional meat and cheese shops, daily green market
* Friday bazaar
* Promenade in town center with coffee shops and outdoor seating
* Several thrift stores
* Local museum with some recently discovered Roman ruins on display along with other assorted cultural insights
* ATMs
* Money exchange and wiring services
* Some places accepting card payments

Regional features:
* Veliko Turnovo - lovely interesting town Ottoman era architecture, a Fortress on a hill
* Ruse "little Vienna" on the Danube- Austro-Hungarian architecture influences, extensive pedestrian area
* Black sea coast with several spots popular with tourists, Varna, Burgas, Nessebar
What else ...

This will be a casual environment. Appreciate 25 hours per week of help but the schedule will be relaxed. You can come and go as you like. The goal is an art retreat to free your mind, relax and create. Please be aware that I'm a content creator so capturing the magic to share with others is important to me. I want you to have fun 🤗
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
- Can host families
Can host digital nomads

fast and reliable - especially in the common areas
Space for parking camper vans

adequate street side parking in front of our home.
How many Workawayers can stay?

More than two
My animals / pets

Host ref number: 569879713191

Website Safety

Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host

Feedback (4)

28 Jun 2025

Left by Workawayer (Irene) for host

I was a guest in Rhonda's home for three weeks together with two friends. It was a pleasant experience, Rhonda is a very welcoming, enthusiastic and hospitable person who is willing to chat and tell you about herself. She had full confidence in us and gave us complete freedom for art projects. We were able to choose what to decorate in the house … read more

(Very good )

20 Jun 2025

Left by host for Workawayer (Irene)

I was truly sad to see this workawayer leave. She brought along two others Aynoa and Leo. They are good friends and created the most delightful environment with their wonderful attitudes and sweet natures. They were very ambitious with the projects that they took on and extremely conscientious about every aspect of living with me for three weeks. … read more

(Excellent )

16 Apr 2025

Left by Workawayer (Lakshmi) for host

Normally, on workaway, when someone leaves a less than perfect feedback, the other person counters with a retaliation. I’m not going to do that. Instead I’m going to start with the wonderful positives that were a part of my experience in Voditsa.
1. Rhonda is a fun, energetic, dynamic person. It’s clear she has traveled a lot. And she truly cares … read more about the state of the world and the environment. She will go to extents to make a person feel comfortable, and conversation flows with her, because she has a lot to share.
2. It was a dream for me to paint the spaces of her home. I loved seeing her reaction to my work. I love little villages and old houses and my intention, that I had shared with her in the beginning, was for her to find a better space within the walls of her home and without. With this in mind I painted Bulgarian flowers on an old wooden cupboard inside, a stork on the kitchen door, and the gesture of goodwill to the village by offering a piece of art to the village school. Not to mention a piece of art on her gate so the villagers would have something to look at.
3. Her friends are wonderful and are ever so gentle and appreciative. Some of my best moments were the moments I spent with her friends. I especially adored how her friends made space for me in conversation.
4. Yes, to live in her home is like camping but I love that. Very little water is wasted when one has to brush their teeth outside. You end up being more conscious about your act and the environment. Yes showers weren’t the easiest but it was a part of the adventure, isn’t travel all about seeing how other people live and being a part of it!

Now for the part that wasn’t easy.
1. Yes, Rhonda was going through a difficult week. And I will never criticize her for it. We can’t schedule life’s blows. They come when they come and we ride its waves. But as the days passed her sensitivities got bigger. I found it was the hardest whenever I spoke. She wouldn’t be able to conceal her irritation and she would often cut me off mid sentence. She would criticize my use of words like ‘should’. And it particularly shocked me when a simple sentence that I would say, like for instance « I’m going to have a shower when I get home and sit down to paint » would lead to her getting irritated saying that it was too much information for her and that I wasn’t respecting her boundaries when I said such things. I found at the end that I honestly didn’t have the space to speak freely.
2. The constant making of stories for Instagram were difficult for me. I prefer authentic and real face to face interactions. Not ones that happen behind the screen of a phone. And yes I highly value my privacy and wouldn’t want to be filmed for Instagram stories. But this is a big part of who Rhonda is, and that’s totally fine. I respect that people are different. But it would be a good idea that future workaway-ers be informed of this, so that they be prepared.
That’s my only negative point from the week. And it only got hard on the last two days. So all in all I enjoyed painting in Voditsa and the simple Bulgarian village life.

I would like to reply to her remarks about me.
1. Painting is a messy affair. I was often in a tiny corner of the room with ten pots of paint about me, not to mention paintbrushes and palettes and reference drawings. And once we wrap up for the evening, i would place them in a corner as they would have to be reused again the next day. I assume these are what Rhonda calls ‘messes’. If I knew that it bothered her I wouldn’t leave them in a corner to be reused the next day, I would clear them up completely. I would have appreciated if she could have said something about this.
2. Yes absolutely, I appreciate and need minimal conversation and silence while working because painting intricately sometimes requires me to go within and concentrate. Rhonda would however during those times talk at great length and I was happy to let her. I knew she was having a hard time and I was hoping that speaking aloud would help her and leave her feeling lighter.
3. I sense that me being quiet and introverted was an issue for her. I mention that I am so in my profile. Next time reading a workawayer’s profile completely would help give her an idea of whom she’s welcoming into her space.
4. She said that I’m a bit high maintenance. I had a little laugh when I read this. I have been called many things but ‘high maintenance’ had never been one of them.

I lived some wonderful moments in Voditsa, painting of course, morning walks with some beautiful people there and singing with the choir group. I will not let a little difficulties in interactions with her ruin what was a few days in a country that I’m growing to love!

(Good )

16 Apr 2025

Left by host for Workawayer (Lakshmi)

Lakshmi left tonight on the train after a week with me in a small rural village in Bulgaria. She found my profile when looking for an opportunity as a muralist. It was her first workaway and she jumped right in the moment she got here with tremendous enthusiasm, bringing to life, stunning paintings that I now have sprinkled about on my property, … read more giving me great joy. They are truly superb, and she really understood the assignment as they say, recognizing the value of reflecting the local culture and its nature. I could not be more pleased. She was very flexible about food. I provided a lot, but I didn’t have a very put together kitchen so she and I both ate picnic style while she was here with no complaints which I super appreciated. She was also very tolerant of my less than ideal situation at the moment like a slow draining shower that leaves you with cold water around your feet. Her first night here I had overlap with a small party. I thought she would enjoy and everyone that met her was delighted by her spirit and conversation. She adores the arts of all kinds, so really gotta kick out of it when I took her to experience the local elderly ladies practicing their singing group as well as another day when we went to watch the local dancers. She expressed a desire to do a service project for the local school, which I was able to quickly coordinate. The artwork she presented to the school again, reflected local culture, and watching her interact with the children in the classroom, gave me a glimpse into her as an English teaching professional. Very calm and sweet. I have invited her back. But the week was not entirely smooth because as a new workaway, she had a bit of a misconception of the nature of the relationship. Myself, I’m a pioneer and have been helping hands for over a decade all around the world. She was much more in tune with her own needs and boundaries than she was able to recognize mine. Her sharing that she found my energy heavy (which is true at this moment because I have considerable anxiety about my family in the states), but what she failed to do was use her intuition to provide me more space. I asked her early on to try to be self directive, but she was a bit high maintenance. I fielded many questions on a daily basis, that didn’t need to be asked because I had already clarified where she could be and what she could do and what she could eat, and all those types of things. It was like constantly needing permission, which was tiring for me. But I think in the right setting, isolation and quiet she could be left to do beautiful, beautiful artwork. She also struggles with unwittingly leaving little messes behind which gave me more work to do as I’m in the process of getting organized to make the best use of my time while I’m here. I accommodated her to the best of my ability. A few things that as a host I wish I had known ahead. She is camera shy, which is fine but was difficult for me because I’m a content creator and it’s a big part of my life and very important. Documenting this first artist was a top priority for me, but it had to take a bit of a backseat because of her requirements. I also wish I had known of her expectations of minimal conversation and near silence while working. Unlike most work ways, I let her manage her own time and did not give her any type of a schedule to work within. She kept herself very busy creating. I could never have expected to end up with so many beautiful pieces of art around my place and for that I’m deeply grateful Had I better understood the work environment she expected and needed, I would’ve modified my offerings of where she could paint. I hope she will come back. I think a second time could go much better for both of us , but after a week of attempting near silence, I’m ready to crank some tunes. :) I wish you the best Lakshmi and I hope some of those contacts I helped you make lead you to the opportunities of your dreams.

(Very good )

29 Aug 2024

Left by Workawayer (Catherine) for host

My friend and I went to Rhonda’s as our first Workaway experience. It was also the first time that Rhonda had hosted although she is an experienced Workawayer herself.. this really showed. Initially we very much appreciated her great communication when we were trying to arrange the trip, helping us with transport information etc and she was … read more

(Excellent )

22 Aug 2024

Left by host for Workawayer (Catherine)

Kate is a fantastic workawayer. Came with her friend Amanda. They were friendly, eager, smart, adaptive, proactive, very conscientious, willing to take on anything and also a very good cooks. Welcome anytime! Highly recommend.

(Excellent )

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These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.

Accuracy of profile:
(4.5)

Cultural exchange:
(5.0)

Communication:
(5.0)

28 Jun 2025

Left by Workawayer (Irene) for host

(Very good)

20 Jun 2025

Left by host for Workawayer (Irene)

(Excellent)

16 Apr 2025

Left by Workawayer (Lakshmi) for host

(Good)

16 Apr 2025

Left by host for Workawayer (Lakshmi)

(Very good)

29 Aug 2024

Left by Workawayer (Catherine) for host

(Excellent)

22 Aug 2024

Left by host for Workawayer (Catherine)

(Excellent)

29 Aug 2024

Left by Workawayer (Amanda) for host

This was my first Workaways which I shared with a friend and we both immediately gravitated to Rhonda and Ryan as hosts, as Rhonda was quick to communicate with us, putting us at ease and providing details of how to reach her homestay. We are both over 50 and so were pretty nervous as to what kind of physical work we would be undertaking and if we … read more

(Excellent)

22 Aug 2024

Left by host for Workawayer (Amanda)

Amanda is a fantastic workawayer. Came with her friend Kate. They were friendly, eager, smart, adaptive, proactive, very conscientious, willing to take on anything and also a very good cooks. Welcome anytime! Highly recommend.

(Excellent)

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Creating a village art retreat in Voditsa, Bulgaria

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Last replied

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Badges (3)

Find your perfect host

Availability

Details

Description

Types of help and learning opportunities

Interests

Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

Help

Languages

Accommodation

What else ...

A little more information

Can host digital nomads

Space for parking camper vans

How many Workawayers can stay?

My animals / pets

Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host

Feedback (4)

Photos

Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host

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