@MuddyPuddles
You are, perhaps, a bit on the younger side to retreat to Bulgaria. But it can still be a great option, if you're one of the new generation of digital nomads / remote workers. One of the great positives of Bulgaria is that it is a low-cost country. But the flip side is that it's also a low-wage country. Therefore, it's difficult to recommend it if you want/need to work IRL (especially if you want to live in a village). Remote work gets the best of both worlds: low costs locally, coupled with higher overseas income. My personal experience was teaching in Plovdiv, where most months I barely scraped 400-500 euros. Whereas, online, I can do that with a bit of tutoring in a week (and I can hang out at the house in the middle of nowhere, rather than needing to be in the big city).
Even better, here in Bulgaria there are plenty of lovely village houses with large gardens, that you can fill with veggies and miscellaneous livestock. My village neighbours do an amazing job in their gardens (all manner of fruits, veggies and nuts - which get eaten fresh, or pickled, or turned into various flavours of alcohol). Plus a menagerie of animals (dogs, cats, goats, rabbits, pigeons, geese, hens, terrapins). And the bills (electricity, property tax, wood, etc.) are pretty cheap too, especially compared to the UK. Our house is next to a mountain (Yellow Beach Peak, 1,500m part of the Stara Planina), with 2 national parks within 30 km, and multiple attractions within a 10-20 minutes drive. Try to find something similar on RightMove, near a UK national park (e.g. Snowdonia, Lake District, Yorkshire Moors) and the prices are ridiculous!
My location means outdoors activities are a big deal for me too (and chosen specifically for this reason). There are several mountain regions in Bulgaria (Pirin National Park near Bansko, Rhodopes near Plovdiv, Central Balkan National Park near Karlovo to name just three) where you can do all manner of riding, walking and cycling in spectacular scenery. I have a bunch of trails starting (literally) at my back gate... and, yet, most days, I will not see anyone else walking/cycling on them. Koprinka Reservoir is just 17 km away, where folks sail, fish, and paddleboard.
I am a recent convert to ebikes. As a former triathlete and mountain biker, I was a bit reluctant to get one, as it's not proper biking, is it?! :-) But I'm old and I've got too many aches and pains to enjoy it the way I used to. Getting my mountain bike (or just me, walking) up Yellow Beach Peak these days is a brutal experience. My ebike is a "fat bike" (wide-wheel mountain bike) from China (AliExpress) with a BIG battery and a BIG motor. It has a top speed of 60 kph roughly, and maybe a 60km-70km range, depending on how much I pedal. It can (surprisingly) get me up Yellow Beach Peak if I make a proper effort (but in about 25% of the time). And it makes cruising down to the bakery in Enina, or Lidl in Kazanlak very comfortable (even with a backpack of groceries). It is AWESOME!! :-)
I've driven to Turkey a couple of times, so I've passed near Elena, but not visited it. It's certainly an interesting option being so close to Greece and Turkey. Haskovo and Harmanli are fine, and I think Harmanli (your closest town) has a Lidl, which is a good sign. :-) Personally, I would find Elena/Haskovo region a bit flat, but there are some scenic low hills in this region (Sakar Mountain is about 900m) north-east of Harmanli, while to the south you'd probably have the foothills of the Rhodopes. BulgariaDirect (the pay-monthly guys on Ebay) have a couple of newly listed properties near Harmanli, might be good to compare these with your current options.
