The hotel that Stuart built

A good holiday often inspires wild dreams of maybe buying an apartment, or even upping sticks and living there.

Stuart Speake, a replacement windows and doors specialist from Minsterley, went one step further. During a family trip to Bulgaria he became so inspired he sold his house to build his own hotel.

The result is a striking-looking modern complex on the Black Sea called Hotel Plaza, set in the quiet resort of Ravda, adjacent to the World Heritage Site of Nessebar and just five minutes from the bustling resort of Sunny Beach (pictured above).

It has 10 swish double bedrooms, two family suites and three penthouses.

It is the culmination of three years of hard graft for 40-year-old Stuart, who put everything he owned on the line - selling his house and even his beloved Kawasaki motorcycle.

"I sold the house here to buy the building plot and the last bit of money in the house I sent out there. I put everything on the line, every single last penny, including selling my motorbike because an electric cable needed to be put through the road to reach the mains supply."

He's now in the process of building a new house to replace the one he sold to fund the hotel.

Stuart explains: "We went out to Bulgaria for a family holiday two or three years ago. We'd heard it was up and coming and I wanted to see for myself.

"I could not believe the prices. I thought it was cheap for apartments - the equivalent of about £30,000. Land was a different matter; it was more on a par with this country."

To give an idea, once he had painstakingly scoured the area for suitable plot, he paid out around £120,000 for it.

But as he explains: "I paid £150,000 for the plot I'm building my own house on now in Minsterley."

And the cost of the whole project?

"A lot," according to Stuart, who hasn't got much change out of £500,000. Which all told is something of a snip in comparison to how much a similar project would have cost to build over here.

As is often the way with these things, the whole idea came from a chance meeting.

It was the woman who picked him up from the airport - a friend of a friend - who turned out to the daughter of a well-known resort developer and who became his trusted right-hand woman in the project.

Stuart did his research, listened to what holidaymakers wanted and came up with plans for a three-star hotel that offers a five-star feeling.

With his partners being Bulgarian, his intention was always to be different from other hotels in the region.

This includes capitalising on having a Bulgarian and British influence. Yes you can have your posh continental nosh, but a full English is always an option.

Popular area

The other thing is cheap flights. Depending on the time of year, the destination can be reached for as little as £60 per person return.

Stuart continues: "I know it's a popular area with Brits, that's part of the reason with the hotel location and why we wanted to have it to such a high spec.

"People said 'Ravda is great but the hotel we are staying in isn't quite what we'd really like'. We took all that on board and built all those things into our hotel."

Of course, dreams often cost more than just money and this one certainly had its moments.

Says Stuart: "Doing something so large and vast has been quite an emotional rollercoaster.

"I don't speak a word of Bulgarian and then we'd be away for long periods and I'd hear that this was not happening or that was not happening. It's been quite stressful.

"I'm building a house on Pontesbury Hill and I can go and see that any time I need to, but me and my partner were Skype-ing each other two or three times a day. It's been a lot of ups and downs. We've had times when we've thought 'What are we doing?'"

Now that the project is complete, Stuart has no regrets. His dream has come true and he has built his own glittering palace on the gorgeous coastline of Ravda.

And an urge to build more? "I would like to think it's a case of never say never. It's worked out and we have learned a lot from it that we can put into the next project."

Funnily enough, when he sold his cherished motorbike to make ends meet, he didn't quite put everything on the line. He kept his helmet and leathers "just in case".

"Maybe I'll get one back some day," he smiles.

For more details visit: www.easybulgarian.co.uk/hotelwordpress