Hi, its nice to meet you! We are Boyko and Silvana from Lavanda!
When in 2005 we came for first time to the village of Kovachevitsa, we had no idea that it’s magic will charm us so much that a year and a half later, we will rearrange all family and business plans and will end up building guest house in the small Rhodopi mountain village.
With romantic ideas and with pink glasses on, we started building authentic Bulgarian house made of stone wood and clay. Our experience was quite stormy and we often felt that “this spoon is too big for our mouth”.
In 2007 we have decided to be near the construction site, so we rented the bistro next door. Inspired by our life in England and Mexico we were preparing nachos, chocolate muffins, tiramisu, Margaritas and Mojito cocktails to the village visitors searching for alternative experience. Now days this doesn’t sound like big deal, but in 2007 Bulgarian countryside was still quite behind the modern city life and such things where avantgarde especially in a small village like Kovachevitsa.
It took us four years to transform the construction into a contemporary yet traditional Lavanda and in 2011 our big dream to create beautiful place where authentic Bulgarian architecture is in perfect harmony with modern style was real.
From then to now we have come a long way that wasn’t always easy and wasn’t always sweet-smelling of lavender. We had serious challenges, but the most important part of our journey is that we manage not to give up. Over those years met many friends and now we are 10 times more confident that through Lavanda we share our passion in hospitality and we take guests to our little lavander world, close to nature, with delicious comfort food, harmony and coziness.
Today there are more than 10 the clients that have been coming back to Lavanda for a decade now. This gives us strength to continue ahead with the growth of this project and since we bought the two close by properties and of course the above mentioned bistro we will continue to dream big and to work for sustainable growth of Lavanda in Kovachevitsa.
In April 2023 Lavanda is transforming form Bed&Breakfast to Restaurant with Rooms, where our seasonal menu with focus on simple and fresh flavours will be available outside the house.
Our partner in this adventure is Victor Penev who is one of the pioneers in the Bulgarian internet, co-founder of Netinfo, the biggest internet company in Bulgaria and currently growing Edamam – a tech company about eating better by delivering healthy nutrition data solutions.