Life in Hungary: What foreigners need to know – from the perspective of a rural Englishman

Our team is committed to reaching out to and giving a voice to foreigners who have moved to Hungary for work, family, or other reasons, and who spend their daily lives here. We want to understand how they feel about living here, what difficulties they face, how they have managed to integrate, and what they think about Hungary and their place of residence. Therefore, we have launched a series in which we interview foreigners living here about their work and experiences in our country.

Please read this intriguing piece from Simon, an Englishman living in Hungary (and watch his videos on organic gardening below!).

In August 2020, I relocated from the UK to Hungary with my Hungarian partner. The driving force was Anna’s desire to be near her grandchildren. We had already found a property close to one of her daughters and had completed the purchase of that the year before we arrived here.

Having driven over 1000 kms from the UK, we arrived at our new home in Kunszallas, a small village sitting between Keschemet and Kiskunfelgyhaza. Because of Brexit, I was able to apply for residency under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, so the process of applying started, along with the seemingly endless visits to various government offices to only get this card, but also a proof of address card and a local village ID card.

At the same time, we needed to start renovations on our new house – an old Tanya that, while liveable, needed updating with new floors, bathroom, kitchen, windows and heating. Through family members, we were able to find a local tradesman who was very helpful, and work was completed just before Christmas that same year.

During that time, I would often visit a number of companies for building materials or furniture. We now have a family joke here, which is basically, if someone is in a bad mood or feeling miserable, we suggest they go to work at Praktiker – this is because I was shocked at how rude some of the staff seemed to be towards us, but decided to just think that is how they are. Well, not true, as my experiences have generally been good, very helpful and polite – maybe I just met them on a bad day….

As a school teacher, Anna has returned to her profession, taking up a position in a local village school teaching English and also Hungarian, but for me, what could I do?

Having financial independence, I did not need to work, but I am not one for sitting around either. My passion lies in growing fruit and vegetables organically, and part of the reason for buying our new house was the potential I saw in the land, allowing me to indulge in my passion.

That started at the same time as renovating the house. The land had been farm for many years, and so I set about transforming it to not only grow food, but also bring back the wildlife. 

It has taken time, designing and planning and also making our own compost! But last year, we harvested over 500 kilos of fresh produce. If that was not enough, I also started a YouTube channel called Diary of an Organic Grower, which shows our progress here and offers advice for anyone interested in doing the same thing. This coming year, we are also going to be bringing our knowledge of fermentation and medicinal plants into our efforts, too.