Looking for low-cost property for a smallholding in Europe? Try Bulgaria!

I see a number of EU citizens here having problems finding affordable property for alternative building or for self-sufficient living.
One option I want to suggest is to look further afield but remain in the EU - Bulgaria!
Bulgaria is a truly wonderful country and has a huge number of abandoned small-holdings in villages available at very low prices compared to western Europe. The cost of living is also lowest in Europe.
Provided there is an existing legal dwelling on the property, even if it's falling down, you are likely to find you'll have no problem adding an alternative construction to the property. Most village properties will have a legal dwelling or footprint of a dwelling shown on the official map. If so, you can just go ahead and build pretty much anything, either on the footprint of the older building or as a supplemental building. Keep things low-key and there are no concerns about permits. It's not like Wales where they will fly drones or send inspectors out looking for properties to take legal action against! Or one can repair the existing mudbrick dwelling to live in.
If you want privacy, properties on the outskirts of a village but still within village boundaries can often be quite isolated and come with a decent amount of land.
Plus, you will be welcomed! Locals don't want their villages to shrink to nothing and die, so they need and welcome newcomers. There is a strong tradition of self-sufficiency which is still alive in most villages.
I just want to put the suggestion out there. I see so many people discussing not being able to afford land in the "usual" places in Europe like Wales or Portugal, when in Bulgaria a few thousand euro will buy a basic village house in need of some repair work on a couple of overgrown decares of land!
I love, love, LOVE the place I bought in a rural part of North-east Bulgaria, and feel so blessed to have it.
Bulgaria offers wonderful options for those with a pioneer spirit and a lower budget, especially EU citizens who will have no problem getting residency.

Jane, what are 'decares'  please?

I found this from 1810;
decares :
- a metric unit of area equal to 10 ares or 0.2471 acre
- a unit of surface measure equal to 10 ares, or 1000 square meters: equivalent to 0.2471 acre.
- 1 Decare is an area of exactly 1000 square meters. 1 Hectare: Area of a square with sides of 100 meters.

French and used mainly between 1708 and 1828
UPDATE
ares -  "a metric unit of measurement, equal to 100 square metres." which could be confused with the Imperial 'acre'.
No wonder its confusing.
SO
10 x 10 = 100 sq. M is called ares
100 x 100 = 1000 sq. M is called decares
and  hectares is equal to 100 ares ( 10,000 square metres).

Jane Mulberry wrote:I love, love, LOVE the place I bought in a rural part of North-east Bulgaria, and feel so blessed to have it.
Bulgaria offers wonderful options for those with a pioneer spirit and a lower budget, especially EU citizens who will have no problem getting residency.

From what we see on the Television, a lot of the villages work very much as a collective with lots of bartering......

It would be great to see some photographs of your house, land and progress.
Cheers💖

The measurement gets more defined;
ARES -  "a metric unit of measurement, equal to 100 square metres."
It could be confused with Acre in the Imperial system!!!

Paul, John, so sorry I didn't reply! I didn't get any notification of comments and thought the thread disappeared with no replies!

Yes, a decare is 1000 square metres, considered about the least amount a family can feed itself on.  That's a little under 1/4 acre.

I bought two blocks in the same village, one with a more or less liveable house on 2,800 sq m, the other with a beautiful but abandoned little house on 2,100 sq m. The old lady who used to own the main house grew all her own fruit and veg, kept rabbits, chickens, and sheep, spun and wove their wool, and also had a donkey and car for transport. The place has been empty for two years since she died, and though everything portable and useful has been taken there's still some furniture. There's also an old stone ruin at the top of the hill. I would love to know the history - I must ask my neighbour. Possibly it was simply abandoned because it gets too windy up there. The winds blowing across the plains from the Danube can be fierce in winter. The newer house from the 1950s is tucked lower down the hill, with a long outbuilding behind it to help block the wind.

The main challenge with the garden is likely to be water. Town water is available, but may not be 100% reliable, there's no well and rainfall is less than 20" a year (550mm). Getting rainwater collection set up is a priority.